


The Gap in the Doorway

by TheSkyLarkin



Series: The Gap in the Doorway AU [1]
Category: Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Video Game)
Genre: (Alternate Universe) US Politics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Politics, Canonical Character Death, Flashbacks, Gaslighting, Gen, Gun Violence, Guns, Mentioned All Recruitable Evermorian Citizens, Minor Character Death, Not Beta Read, Reworking, Screenplay/Script Format, Swearing, Unconventional Format, Video Game Mechanics, Worldbuilding, gratuitous Dark Tower references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 78,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSkyLarkin/pseuds/TheSkyLarkin
Summary: Currently on Haitus until AprilThere's a whole lot of retellings of the game's story already... so how about a reworking of the storyandthe gameplay?ANi No Kuni: Revenant KingdomReworking with a focus on improving both story and (theoretical) gameplay by (among other things) bringing back concepts fromNi No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witchwhile adding in Political Thriller and RTS game elements. Part Fanfiction, Part Media Analysis, Part Spec Script, Part Abridged Software Design Document, All Self-Indulgent on the part of the author. Spoilers for the entire base game and all DLC content, plusWrath of the White Witchand its DLCs.Cross-posted from Tumblr and edited, tags to be added.See the endnotes for each chapter for comprehensive warnings/tags (when applicable).
Relationships: Aranella & Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, Batu & Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, Batu & Roland Crane, Batu & Tani (Ni no Kuni), Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum & Tani, Niall & Master Pugnacius, Roland Crane & Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum
Series: The Gap in the Doorway AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946533
Comments: 20
Kudos: 18





	1. Reading Guide and Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer as of 1/8/2021** : This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, and incidents that are not part of the original video game are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead) or actual events is purely coincidental. The initial version of this reworking was written on Tumblr in early 2020.
> 
> (I never thought I’d have to slap a disclaimer related to real-life political events on my video game fix-it fic, but we live in interesting times.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick guide to the formatting of this reworking, and a major change in the narrative before the game has even properly begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Premise/Statement of Intent for this reworking of Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom can be found on my Tumblr [here](https://theskylarkin.tumblr.com/post/613532572977332224/the-gap-in-the-doorway-a-ni-no-kuni-2-rewrite). This is optional content unnecessary to understanding the rest of the reworking.

> “There are other worlds, gunslinger, and other demons… Watch for the… unfound doorways.”

The Gunslinger (Stephen King, 1982) 

> “I saw me walking in front of myself. But it wasn’t really me… The gap in the door… it’s a separate reality… Are you sure the only you is you?”

PT (Kojima Productions, 2014)

## Reworking Reading Guide

As this reworking is part fanfiction, part software design document (focusing on the end product rather than anything too technical), and part spec script, the author has decided to include a guide at the beginning to explain the formatting for the rest of the reworking:

Narrative Information = Plain Text
    

This is an example of the events that unfold as the game progresses, as well as information on aspects of presentation such as cutscene direction.

Gameplay Changes = Plain Text within Square Brackets with Bolded Label
    

[ **Gameplay Change** : This is an example of the proposed changes to existing gameplay mechanics or new mechanics created for the reworking.]

Metatextual Commentary = Italicised Text within Round Brackets
    

( _This is an example of a justification made for the author's decision to change an aspect of narrative and/or gameplay, discussion of a gripe/issue with the original game, and/or relevant commentary on an aspect of the original game._ )

Spoken Dialogue/Thoughts = Block Quotes

> **Bolded Speaker** , emotion/stage direction: "I am saying this example out loud to all within listening range!"
> 
> **Bolded Speaker** (inner monologue witnessed only by the player): ' _However, this example of thoughts in my head are only avaiable to me, the character, and the person playing this game._ '

## Press [Start] to Begin

[ **Gameplay Change** : Once the player hits the ‘New Game’ button, a set of sliders for the size of dialogue boxes, speed of which said dialogue boxes cycle though, the various volume settings, default language, and the other important accessibility options pop up with the option to change the game’s difficulty before the game even properly starts. The harder difficulties would already be an option in the game at launch (because if developers need the player base to balance the game for them, then they should have done more focused QA testing). All of these settings can be adjusted again as needed by pressing down the ‘Options’ button (or whatever button that is mapped to for the PC version) whenever a cutscene isn’t playing even before the player officially gains access to the main menu.

Accessibility is important for all video games, especially in a long JRPG with a lot more text than audible dialogue. Players who have trouble reading smaller text or don’t read that fast may be turned off from said game immediately if you don’t give them to adjust that before starting the actual game. Most big-budget AAA games (which Revenant Kingdom was clearly aiming to be seen as) start the player with the ability to adjust at least some of these options before the game itself starts. Once settings have been tweaked to the player's liking, the game can begin properly.]

The reworking proper begins with the camera zooming in on an ornately decorated book with a dark blue cover, a la the beginning of the classic _Disney Princess_ movies. The book's cover is adorned with gold detailing and lettering, but the title is too out of focus for the player to read. The book flips open to the illustration of the steampunk-esque creature from the beginning of the original game [which begins to move](https://skylarkinonvideoandvidya.tumblr.com/post/628017538091089920/ni-no-kuni-2) as the same narration over the original game's opening cutscene begins. 

( _Unlike in the original game, the player will eventually get some explanation for the three images presented in this introductory cutscene in the base game. This sets up the fairytale-esque nature of Ni No Kuni the world, which will starkly contrast with the pseudo-realism of the very next cutscene (or at least the beginning of it) in Ichi No Kuni._ ) 

## Prologue: The Assassination of President Crane

**6:35pm approx., [Location Redacted], 11/23/20XX**

The presidential motorcade is driving through a tunnel in the city at night, but it won’t even make it to the bridge before a disaster occurs. ( _And the developers can save some money by not having to model the bridge and the city._ ) The tunnel is dimly lit, long, and runs deep beneath the streets above. It’s just about the worst place to have some sort of car accident...

President Roland Crane is looking out the window with a scowl of frustration, legs crossed and fingers tapping in annoyance. He’s visibly more tired and on-edge than he was at the beginning of the original game. His cellphone rings and he picks it up to look at the caller ID (which the audience doesn’t get to see). With an unreadable expression on his face, he turns it off without answering and shoves it in his coat pocket.

(In retrospect, this is a huge mistake on his part.)

> **Driver** : “We’ll be arriving shortly, Mr. President.”
> 
> **President Crane** , outwardly calm, voice perfectly neutral: “Good.”
> 
> **Crane** , tired and frustrated: ‘ _That was an absolute disaster. I thought I told the Press Secretary to vet those reporters more carefully. Unless I can keep a low profile this evening and turn this around at the summit tomorrow, I’ll never hear the end of this from both my party and- huh?_ ’

* * *

( _In the original game, Roland is portrayed as this great leader and perfect political mentor for Evan. The audience doesn’t get to see a hint of any major flaw in his leadership until the_ Timeless Tome _DLC. In fact, the original game gives barely any information about what sort of leader Roland was like in his home country or what his people thought of him as a president, even though his role in the story hinges on him being a positive role model for Evan. What little exposition is given in the DLC is just a couple of throwaway lines (since that isn’t the focus of the Memory Lane; it’s all about Roland’s distant relationship with Will.)_

_Roland’s job doesn’t inform his character all that much in the original game; swapping out his profession with any position of high leadership (such as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a director of a hospital) would still result in the same type of character. A person with those kinds of jobs would have the same skillset that Roland displays in-game: leadership, dictating responsibility, unilateral thinking, persuasiveness, etc. just without the explicit political power._

_The reworking will be more focused on Roland’s role as a leader of a nation to juxtapose both him and Evan as characters and their two worlds as different genres (Evan’s as the typical JRPG land and Roland’s as every American political thriller ever), which will lead to some interesting interactions once the people from each world become aware of the other’s existences..._

_With that in mind: a major city gets attacked with a nuclear weapon (although it could be just another type of ballistic missile; the author is too scared of being put on some NSA list to do any serious research) under Roland’s administration in the original game, and that’s not a sign of a strong government. So something is rotten in the Crane administration. And in this reworking, the player is going to get to find out what that something is._ )

* * *

While President Crane has been lost in his thoughts, the lights in the tunnel have shut off without warning. Alarmed, the driver tries to contact the rest of the motorcade or the Secret Service, but neither his radio nor phone are working. (Neither is Roland’s phone.) He’s on the verge of panic when two shots ring out and he slumps over the wheel, dead. ( _This will be done in silhouette only, so no blood and no higher ESRB rating._ ) Two more shots take out the front tires of the limo. It sharply pivots to the side, hits one of the tunnel walls at full speed, flips over in the air, and rolls a few times before coming to a stop, completely wrecked.

The SUVs in the motorcade behind the Presidental limo screech to a stop before the twisted wreckage. The vehicle is completely mangled, with shards of glass everywhere and no sign of movement within. No one could’ve survived that…

The screen fades to black until vibrant blue lines are drawn in [the shape of the Gateway spell](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/ninokuni/images/0/0c/Gateway.png/revision/latest?cb=20130131033544).

Pinned to his seat by the wreckage of the limo, President Crane is somehow alive but badly injured. Blue light surrounds him and he disappears. End Scene.

* * *

( _Changing the inciting Isekai incident to actual attempted assassination versus nuking Not-New York makes the stakes more personal for Roland and the player. As they have just booted up the game, the players would have no reason to care about the hypothetical thousands of lives lost because they don’t have any attachment to this setting/world whatsoever. In the original game, Roland himself isn’t very torn up about it until the last chapter and most of that minimal angst is about the death of his son in particular. Nuking an entire city is an eye-catching opening set-piece but it just gets retconned away in the end, making it ultimately pointless._ Wrath of the White Witch _was all about how you couldn’t just undo the bad things that happen in your life, and that moral is completely ignored by the sequel._

_This change will give Roland a much-needed meatier character arc and foil his character with Evan’s as their own personal arcs develop. Roland will be attempting to figure out who tried to have him killed and why while Evan builds up his new kingdom and learns how to be a ruler. This would also provide the excuse to travel back to Roland’s world and meet the Soulmates of people from Evan’s world. It’s less of a flashy beginning, but it at least sets up some intrigue and will actually be explained later versus the nuke that never gets any sort of explanation other than the one line that goes “President Crane’s foreign policy game is weak” from the_ Timeless Tome _DLC._ )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers/Warnings: Minor character death, (implied) gun violence


	2. Ch.1 - Mausinger Sends His Regards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the reworking makes the best of Nella's limited screentime and the Black Knight gets a chance to live up to his reputation.

## Chapter One: Mausinger Sends His Regards

( _The first chapter of the original game does an excellent job of introducing the two main characters, establishing Mausinger as a main antagonist, and setting the groundwork for Evan’s character arc. However, it only does an adequate job as a tutorial for the basic combat mechanics, electing to introduce gameplay mechanics that only get used once or twice for the rest of the game rather than using that time to make sure the player has gotten their heads around the basics of the combat system._

_Another issue that needs to be addressed is the lack of development for the supporting cast, specifically Nella as she needs to make the most of her limited screentime. She may not survive the events of this chapter, but her death drives the start of Evan’s main character arc, and thus the entire plot of the game. The reworking will not only add more character development for her in this chapter but also make sure that her absence is felt throughout the rest of the story through Evan and the other characters associated with her._

_The author would also like to acknowledge that Nella’s death is absolutely an example of the dreaded[“women in refrigerators” trope](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StuffedIntoTheFridge) (aka killing off a character (usually—but not always—a woman) just to cause more angst for another character (usually—but not always—a man) and thus reducing the first character to a prop for the second character’s story), and other writers in the fandom have already written better fics in which she survives the first chapter. The reworking will keep her death due to the author’s decision to keep the existing events of Evan’s character arc intact as much as possible, the intentional narrative similarities between the calls to action for Evan and Oliver from_ White Witch _(at least Nella gets to be powerful and interesting before her death, unlike Allie), and adding Nella as a permanently playable fighter would mean rebalancing the whole game around having seven playable characters._ )

* * *

**11 am approx., Ding Dong Dell Castle, Day Zero of the reign of ~~King Evan Pettiwisker Tildrum~~ King Otto Mausinger, first of his name**

It is a dark and stormy ~~night~~ late morning, and many people are about to die. The events of this chapter progress unchanged from the original game up until the cutscene in which the Black Knight is introduced. The dialogue remains the same in the reworking, but Mausinger begins the scene already sitting upon the throne of Ding Dong Dell, clearly enjoying his new seat of power. The soon-to-be-Chancellor Vermine is at his right, casually leaning upon the throne as he heaps praises upon the new king for his strategic choices that have led to their successful coup.

( _The purpose of this change in framing is to establish the power dynamics between Mausinger and Vermine as co-conspirators in their nefarious plot, elevating Vermine to a role more important than just another underling but not as important as Mausinger. Keeping both mice in the same short rather than cutting to separate shots also establishes the closeness of these two characters as they used to be friends until Doloran's corruption and neither character appears without the other close behind until the penultimate chapter. This might seem like an inconsequential change, but conveying this important characterization through cinematic language helps to make an impression on the player without additional dialogue. And the player needs a strong impression of these characters as they will not make another appearance in the story for another few chapters._ )

Mausinger's evil laugh can be removed from this scene as well, as it's far too cliche and doesn't fit the more complex character Mausinger is revealed to be later on in the story. ( _Plus, Mausinger's credentials as a villain will be established much more effectively in upcoming scenes._ ) When a guard runs in to report that Evan has escaped, Vermine is so shocked that he leans too far forward and falls over. In contrast, Mausinger keeps his composure as he orders the Black Knight to hunt down the boy. Instead of just standing there, menacingly, the Black Knight bows and stalks away with a dramatic swish of his cape. He walks towards the camera, which is positioned at a low angle to give the upcoming boss the appearance of looming menacingly right towards the player, as the cutscene fades to black.

Gameplay resumes with Evan and Roland discovering the aftermath of the coup. In the reworking, Evan recognizes one of the dying grimalkin guards lying in the rubble, calling out to him by name and trying in vain to save his life until Roland has to all but drag him away because there’s nothing that either of them can do for the poor guy right now. ( _This adds some early characterization for Evan (though he’s naive, he really cares about his subjects as a king), and foreshadows the even greater losses he will suffer at the end of the chapter. Also, this particular scene will come up again in a later chapter._ )

Due to this added emotional moment, the conversation where Evan admits that he has no idea why the coup is happening occurs after the tutorial fight in which the lock-on mechanic is introduced at the other end of the long hallway just after Roland opens the door. Roland finally gets Evan to agree to flee the castle, but there's a problem up ahead. Evan stops Roland at the threshold to the garden terrace, as there are several elite guardsmen blocking their path who are much tougher than the normal soldiers that he's fought so far. As Evan's friend Nella is nowhere to be found, Roland comes up with a plan to sneak past the soldiers instead of fighting them but this idea has to be scrapped once he takes a closer look outside.

( _When Roland and Evan reach the garden terrace, it should be still pouring down rain outside like it has been in every cutscene thus far. There was rain visible in the glass panes of the roof during the very first tutorial fight, there’s no way that the heavy storm raging outside of Evan’s window at the beginning of the chapter could have stopped completely so quickly._

  
The player probably didn’t notice the rain because they were distracted by the President of the AU!USA popping a cap in this poor mouse’s ass.

_And even if the rain had stopped, the path that Evan and Roland take in the original game is clearly some kind of storm drain so it ought to contain some water from the downpour that just occurred. Which it does in the game. But sneaking around the soldiers should not have been a valid option as it stands to reason that the **mousefolk** guardsmen would be able to hear the escapees splashing about while trying to sneak past. Well, Evan might be able to make it if his grimalkin blood provides him with more stealthiness, but probably not Roland._)In the reworking, the storm drain is too full of water to attempt to sneak through. With no other way forward, Roland grits his teeth and charges forward into the storm at the new enemies.

[ **Gameplay Change** : The two pointless stealth sequences in this chapter will be removed since there are no other mandatory stealth sequences in the whole game. ( _The Mark of Kings heist in Chapter Seven of the original game is probably supposed to be more of that, but the player could just as easily fight their way through all the guards since they’re not exactly tough enemies._ )

Instead, this segment will be replaced by the blocking and dodging tutorial in the form of a battle with tougher enemies that the player wouldn’t be able to button mash through, forcing them to learn how to dodge and/or block. You know, mechanics that are actually used _throughout the entire game_ rather than a couple of one-off sequences? To keep it fair to a brand new player, these elite guardsmen won't swarm the player even when in aggro range and will only attack one at a time to give the player more time to get used to evasion tactics. The in-universe justification for this is that the limited visibility from the rain makes it harder to see their attacker.]

  
Their captains are only two levels higher than Roland, he can totally take them! 

After prevailing against these tough foes (but most likely not without a few scrapes), Roland continues onward with Evan. Roland initially dismissing Evan as just a little kid, trying to get phone service in another world, and outright asking Evan if he’s dead (to the poor kid’s utter confusion) at the beginning of the chapter felt like an actual human response, so there will be one more of those moments in the hallway between fights as they both try to shake themselves dry where Roland mutters that this whole situation is like something out of a movie. ( _Since that line of his in the original game doesn't work in its original context in the reworking due to elements of Roland's world that will become apparent later._ ) With a quizzical tilt of his head, Evan asks what a "movie" is, but his question goes unanswered as they reach the next enemy encounter.

( _The reworking will be playing up Roland’s status as a fish out of water in this world more and have the other characters actually react to his strange aside comments._ )

* * *

As the tutorial that was supposed to occur in the next room has already happened, the next battle begins with the sorceress magically sealing the door shut behind Evan and Roland, trapping them in the room with her and the guards until Nella's introductory cutscene triggers. ( _With the addition of a battle with tougher enemies, it becomes a little more believable that Roland might need some help to take down enemies that he'd previously had a relatively easy time dealing with until now._ )

( _Aside from general accessibility concerns, one of the many reasons the reworking has dedicated options for larger text and dialogue boxes right at the start of the game is that the author didn’t get see Roland and Nella’s conversation about Skeleplasms during their first fight together until her second playthrough of the game. It’s a nice, understated character moment between them: Roland reacting to seeing a clearly magical being for the first time, and Nella reacting to this strange man who’s never seen one of the most common monsters in this world. And as it is one of the only moments these two had in the original game, it's a shame that it's so easy for the player to miss it._ )

Speaking of Roland's status as an outsider, Nella should be a lot more suspicious of Roland in the very beginning. Mausinger’s coup happened out of seemingly nowhere and Roland’s story is sketchy as hell, plus she’s only got Evan’s word that he’s an ally (and as his governess, she knows just how sheltered he is). With everything that’s been happening, she really ought to interrogate him just a little more before deciding to trust him. So after the soldiers and skeleplasms have been dealt with, Nella apologizes to Evan for not being there to save him earlier before confronting the mysterious stranger:

> **Nella** : “Who exactly are you? And how did you get into the castle undetected?”
> 
> **Roland** : “I’m Roland, and… I’m as curious about how I got here as you are…”
> 
> **Nella** , skeptical: “And what exactly does that mean?”
> 
> **Roland** : “I—There was an… accident, and I was sort of… transported here? Frankly, I don’t even know where “here” is…”
> 
> **Nella** , unimpressed: “Hmmm... so it’s just mere coincidence that you just happen to show up out of nowhere in the middle of the first coup that’s happened in centuries and then happen to stumble upon the king of the realm, alone and unguarded?”
> 
> **Nella** , with a scoff: “Do you think I was born yesterday?”

Despite being shorter, she gets up in Roland’s face as she scrutinizes him. Even though he’s got the longer blade, Roland has just witnessed her ninja moves, so he backs off a bit.

> **Nella** : “Who sent you? Clearly, they must be someone with powerful magic in order to bypass the wards placed upon this castle… But how could he have found someone that powerful…? Just who are you working for?”
> 
> **Evan** , jumping in between them: “Nella, wait! Roland helped me. He saved my life! Those soldiers would have already caught me if he hadn’t fought them off!”
> 
> **Roland** : “Finally beginning to see reason, huh?”

This remark earns him a glare from Nella. She takes a moment to contemplate the situation, but Evan’s earnest expression tells her that the King has already made up his mind.

> **Nella** , somewhat reluctantly: “… Very well. If His Majesty counts you as an ally, then so do I. Forgive my suspicion. I am merely doing my duty.”

Once Nella has informed Evan of Mausinger's treachery and provided a potential escape route, the three fugitives head down into the maids' quarters to get some free healing items from Persha. Exiting the area triggers a cutscene in which Nella comments on Roland’s quick grasp of the situation (the rebellion being planned way in advance) despite not even knowing where he currently is. (The kingdom of Ding Dong Dell on the continent of the Summerlands, she clarifies. The blank look on Roland’s face in response tells her that either he’s an amazing liar or he’s clearly not from around here.) Roland casually replies that he knows a thing or two about politics: he runs a country after all. When Evan asks which one, Roland replies that he’s probably never heard of it (since he's certainly never heard of a country with kings with cat ears and mouse-people...).

> **Evan** , brightly: “Maybe I haven't...but Nella probably has! She knows about all of the kingdoms of the world, past and present!”
> 
> **Nella** , embarassed: “Well, I don’t know about all of them, but I shall give it a try.”

They both look expectantly at Roland. Ah what the hell, it’s not like they’re going to think he’s any crazier…

> **Roland** : “The Democratic Union of Andoria.”

The blank look on Evan’s face confirms to Roland that wherever or whatever this place is, they don’t have democratic unions yet. (This is a kingdom with knights in armor and chainmail, after all.) This has to be either a very vivid dream, or he’s really in another world...

Evan looks at Nella inquisitively, as if expecting her to understand what this all means, but she just shakes her head. This is doing absolutely nothing to quell her suspicions of the newcomer at all... Looking ahead, her eyes widen as she spies the Black Knight approaching, and she quickly pulls Evan and Roland into a side room before they are spotted. After some exposition about the upcoming boss to build anticipation, Nella decides that Roland needs some new threads, a very useful piece of jewelry, and another round of tutorials.

[ **Gameplay Change** : While Nella is in the party for the rest of the chapter, she will appear on the main menu screen along with Evan with the area below their names where their stats should be blacked out. They also have sections in the equipment and skills menu that are also covered up and inaccessible at this point in the game. This gives the player the impression that Nella might be playable later on like Evan. Otherwise, the player will quickly figure out that the other active fighter in the party won't be around much longer due to the interface and her death won't be such a shock later on. But what about all the promo material in which Nella is absent for later parts of the game? Having a proper interface for her in the menu can give the player false hope that she could potentially be back in a later chapter.]

( _The tutorial room has a Waystone, as does the first part of the sewers. But aside from another sneaking section, there’s nothing really in between the two rooms (other than some more cutscenes) that warrant the inclusion of a second Waystone so close to the first. Since the stealth sections have been removed from the reworking, something else has to go here instead._ )

[ **Gameplay Change** : After the equipment tutorial occurs, the skills tutorial that takes place in the sewers in the original game is added to this segment as Roland asks about the "special skills" that the arms band is meant to channel. The game is already explaining part of that menu right now, why wait for the second half of the tutorial when there’s nothing notable in between each half in the original game?] Nella still doesn't fully trust Roland but she figures that with all of Mausinger's forces hunting for Evan right now, she ought to empower the other fighter currently protecting him to the best of her abilities.

Neither Evan nor Roland seems to notice that Nella flinches a bit as she casts the spell that will let Roland learn skills and magic, and she doesn't say anything to the two of them either. After Nella gives Evan his starter equipment at the conclusion of the tutorial and the player is prompted to use the Waystone, Nella hangs back a bit as Evan and Roland go to check if the coast is clear.

> **Nella** , concerned: ‘ _What was that magical feedback just now? I have never felt anything like that when I cast Potential in the past… Perhaps it occurs when casting a spell on a person from…somewhere else? Another...world? Like in the fairy tales that I've told to Evan over the years?'_

( _Foreshadowing!_ )

> **Nella** , determined: ' _Gah, what am I thinking; there's no time to dwell on this! We have to get Evan out of here alive first! Then we can figure out just where exactly Roland came from._ ’

* * *

The three fugitives get as far as the door to the Entrance Hall before they realize that there’s a problem. The Entrance Hall is empty… except for the Black Knight, standing guard in the dead center of the room. From his vantage point, he can see nearly the entire room; sneaking past him will be nearly impossible. Roland asks if there might be another way around to the secret passageway, but Nella replies that those hallways will be crawling with guards and that route will take much longer.

As they rack their brains for another solution, Evan’s ears perk up and he tells the adults that there are guards heading towards them from the hallway they just came through. Roland asks if Nella knows the spell that the mouse sorceress from earlier used to seal doors shut, and she asks why. With new untested combat abilities and no other options, Roland’s got a plan: he’ll distract the Black Knight so that Nella and Evan can sneak past him and across the hall. Evan protests that according to what Nella just told them about Mausinger’s mysterious fighter, Roland will die if he tries to fight him. Roland clarifies that he’s not trying to defeat the Black Knight, just distract him. Once Evan and Nella get to safety, he’ll make a beeline for the door and Nella will seal it up with magic, hopefully deterring the knight long enough for them to escape via the secret passage. With no other ideas, Evan and Nella reluctantly agree to the plan.

[ **Gameplay Change** : As Roland heads out the door with a loud “Hey, you!” (or something of that nature) towards the Black Knight, a timer appears in the upper right corner of the screen. The Black Knight draws his sword and stalks towards Roland, who draws his own blade and shifts into a fighting stance as Evan and Nella duck out the door in the background. With Roland still at level two at best, this fight is about survival more than winning even though the player just got all these cool new weapons and skills. The player just has to keep the boss’s attention on them and not die for three minutes. The Black Knight will go after Evan and Nella if he spots them, so staying close enough to keep his attention is crucial if the player doesn't want to have to retry this fight again.

The Black Knight has got the same moves as his later fight in the sewers, but at Roland’s current level the player will not going to be dealing enough damage to deplete his health bar (which is just ridiculously huge for this part of the game - he’s got endgame levels of health - but he is supposed to be Mausinger’s best guy after all) in the allotted time. This fight functions more as a skill check to make sure that the player has the hang of the fundamentals of combat besides just attacking than a proper boss fight.]

After three minutes, Roland looks over his shoulder to see Evan and Nella slip through the door on the opposite side of the hall. Unfortunately for him, that means he misses the Black Knight swinging his shield at him and is thrown to the floor. The Black Knight advances, sword raised, but Roland switches to his gun and shoots the Knight right between the eyes.

Since he has an enchanted helmet, this does nothing but briefly stun the Black Knight with the ringing in his ears from metal hitting metal. However, that short period of time is just long enough for Nella to run up and deliver a flying kick that sends Mausinger’s underling over the edge of the platform and into the pool of water below.

As they rush back to Evan on the far side of the hall and Nella seals the door shut behind them, Roland comments that they make a pretty good team. Evan agrees, but Nella is all business and reminds the two of them that they aren’t out of the woods just yet. As she searches the bookshelf for the switch that opens the secret door, Roland casually remarks to Evan that he's got a few of these hidden passages at his workplace as well. Evan asks if Roland or any of his predecessors ever had to deal with something like this, but Roland can only recall one historical event that was anything like a coup in his country and it didn't occur anywhere near the capitol. This is not very encouraging to the young king as the bookcase slides away with a loud thud to reveal the secret door.

* * *

Evan is already downcast as they descend into the sewers, and he looks even more crestfallen after the cutscene where Nella explains a bit more about the conflict in Ding Dong Dell to Roland before she reveals that Mausinger had King Leonhard poisoned. [ **Gameplay Change** : Since the tutorial at the beginning is reduced to just an explanation of the battle arena in dungeons, the trip through the newer half of Ding Dong Well is much quicker (even if the player chooses to scour all the rooms and fight all the enemies) since the game doesn't need to stop for another cutscene.] Aside from Roland commenting that he didn't expect the sewers to be such a labyrinth (which can be done as an in-game dialogue rather than a cutscene), there are a couple of additional dialogues throughout the area:

The first one has Evan worrying about everyone else in the castle and Nella reminding him that the best way to keep them safe from Mausinger’s wrath is to get out as quickly as possible. Evan asks if that’s really going to stop Mausinger from going after Persha and the other grimalkin in the same way that his supporters went after Jerome (the dying guard from earlier) and everyone else who was killed. Nella has to be honest and say no, it won’t guarantee their safety... but when they all signed up to work in the castle, they made a pledge to protect their king. If Evan wants to honor their sacrifices, he needs to get out of the kingdom and live so that the lives lost will not have been lost in vain. This is not very assuring, but Evan agrees all the same.

Another dialogue has Nella and Evan expressing surprise that the place where Roland is from doesn’t have any monsters at all. Nella asks how Roland got his skills with swords and his pistol if there are no monsters in his country.

> **Roland** , with a forced chuckle: “Oh, we still have monsters in Andoria all right… they just don’t like skeleplasms or goos.”

Nella and Evan exchange a set of concerned looks and decide to drop the subject.

The last dialogue is about the nature of magic. Nella and Evan are surprised that Roland’s entire world doesn’t have any magic at all. (As far as he knows, anyway.) Roland asks if the spell that Nella cast on will anyone the ability to learn magic, and Nella confirms this... but it takes a lot of studying to do anything really impressive with magic. Evan pipes up that Nella’s been teaching him magic since he was a kitten, and he still doesn’t know a whole lot of spells yet.

Nella argues that he’s come a long way since he started and made significant progress, but Evan protests that if he knew more magic maybe he could have helped more people back at the castle (he’d read about a spell that could save people from dying...) or even stopped Mausinger’s plan altogether. Roland throws him for a loop by interrupting to ask if this world has a spell that can reverse time. He then follows that up by advising Evan to not dwell on the past, and instead keep studying magic so that he’ll be better prepared for another situation like this instead.

As Evan admits that Roland has a point, Nella gives both of them a small approving smile in the background.

At the end of the path is a broken bridge and an ambush. The Black Knight’s armor is still dripping wet as he approaches the party ominously. Mausinger follows a step behind—along with Vermine and a band of soldiers and skeleplasms—as he taunts Evan over his impending demise while his most powerful minion stomps towards him. A dark purple aura surrounds the silent figure in armor while its eyes glow red. Nella pleads Evan to escape and quickly whispers to Roland that the river that runs below the well should be flooding the cavern below on account of all the rain. Roland takes the hint, and then it’s Nella’s turn to go one-on-one with the Black Knight as Roland grabs Evan and leaps into the dark abyss.

The Black Knight eventually catches up to them further downstream—conveniently just after Roland has just found another Waystone, of course. But after two battles (and Roland gaining a level or two if the player fought every enemy in the sewers) now he’s been worn down to dealing a reasonable amount of damage with a health bar that’s more appropriate for a tutorial boss… in his first phase. Then he uses the “forbidden magics” to turn himself into a mouse-centaur for phase two. This is supposed to be scary, but his hitbox has just doubled and his moves are now much easier to predict and dodge since they’re more telegraphed. The only intimidating part of this fight is his longer health bar, but that’s easy to fix with another party member fighting alongside Roland. Nella shows up to help fight Black Knight stage two after a few minutes, looking badly beat up but still able to fight. She and Roland bring the boss down to one-third of his health, at which point he does his dark fire attack at Evan. Nella leaps in front of Evan, and...well, you know the rest.

Roland shoots out one of the Black Knight’s eyes, and he teeters towards the edge of the cliff but doesn't fall over. Until Evan, through the waterfall of Ghibli tears running down his face, pulls out the sword and arms band from the bag Nella gave him earlier before charging forward with a heartbroken wail. Slashing furiously at one of the mouse-centaur’s feet is enough to knock the monster off-balance and send it plummeting into the depths below. Evan watches the beast fall...and then the sword falls out of his hand and clatters to the ground, disappearing back into his arms band in a shower of blue sparks as he runs back over to Nella.

Based upon every previous scene, it should still be raining outside during Nella's death scene as Roland sets her down near the exit of the well. Grey skies and pouring rain would aid in establishing the gloomy mood of this important death scene, rather than say... a lovely sunny day.

  
The lighting in the scene is gorgeous, but the lovely sunshine is tonally out of place for this scene depicting the main character's mother-figure dying... 

Also, if the various rating boards will allow it, Nella should look a bit more near-death rather than just beat-up in her dying moments. With the Dellian soldiers approaching, Evan is forced to leave Nella’s body as he and Roland flee into the storm.

* * *

**8 pm approx., Hideaway Hollow, Day Zero**

The scene depicted in the ending credits with Roland and Evan by the fire at the campsite in Hideaway Hollow would be an actual cutscene here. The rain has stopped, but the grass around the campfire is still damp. Evan is curled up underneath the red cloak—one of the last presents Nella ever gave to him before her death—on the driest patch of ground in the hollow, quietly crying himself to sleep. Meanwhile, Roland is keeping watch by the fire and internally reflecting on the situation he’s in.

> **Roland** : ‘ _Looks like this isn’t some crazy dream after all; I’m actually in another world with magic, monsters, and evil mice… This is like something out of one of Will's fantasy novels. I supposed it's a good thing whatever force brought me here also made me younger. I'd be having a much harder time trying to wield a sword against a skeleplasm at my true age...I could've done without the reminder that I used to have long hair though._
> 
> _Heh, not even five minutes in another world and I’ve probably already pissed off an entire kingdom. Certain people back home would have something to say about **that** , I’m sure._
> 
> _Forget about that for now, what are my options here? I need to get back to my world: I have a country that needs me. I have to find out who tried to kill me and how they got past my security before someone else gets hurt or killed. It couldn’t have been some lone wolf terrorist, it was too well planned…_
> 
> _The problem is that I’ve got no idea **how** to get back. Nella might have known something, but she’s gone now. Poor Evan, he can’t be older than my son and he’s all alone in this world with an entire army trying to kill him…_
> 
> _Okay, here's what I'm going to do. I’ll protect Evan at least until we can find somewhere where he’d be safe. It sounded like his father was well-liked; there’s gotta be some old ally of his who won’t like the new regime change and can take Evan in. Meanwhile, I’ll keep an eye out for a way to get home…_ '

( _To split the PoV more evenly between Evan and Roland, most chapters will end with a Roland monologue in place of the random narrator in the original game followed by a Ferdinand and Evan dream sequence. Introducing Will earlier instead of the random side quest in the middle of the game helps explain why Roland, who at this point has been an empathetic but shrewd pragmatist, is so attached to Evan even though he’s trying harder to make it home in the reworking, setting up more character conflict for him._ )

The first Ferdinand dream sequence is the same as in the original game, then the Save Screen pops up as the chapter officially ends. ( _The conversation between Roland and Evan can wait until chapter two officially starts._ )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers/Warnings: Canon character death, Canon-typical gun violence


	3. Ch.2.1 - First Impressions Matter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the reworking takes things one small step at a time and the Sky Pirates are introduced.

## Chapter Two: Cloud Snakes and Kingmakers (Part One)

**7am approx., Hideaway Hollow, Day One**

Morning arrives, and both Evan and Roland seem well rested for two people who just spent the night sleeping on the ground out in the wilderness. The player gains control of Evan, and the boys climb up to the top of an overlook to discuss where to go from here while looking out at the scenic view.

As Roland hasn't given up on returning to his own world in the reworking, he visibly reacts to Evan’s recollections of a story about another world that was closely interconnected to this one in some fashion. He's able to hide his disappointment when Evan can’t remember Nella’s story ever bringing up how to travel between the two worlds, but has a pensive expression when Evan looks away. Plus, some fairy tales are just fairy tales...

Since Roland already told Evan that he runs a country in the previous chapter, Evan asks if this means that Roland is also a king like him. Suppressing the urge to point out that one can’t really be a king without a kingdom to rule over, Roland clarifies that he’s a president (which is similar in some regards). Roland tries to convince Evan to consider “a quiet life in the mountains”. However—despite being currently homeless, broke, and all on his own in the world—Evan resolves to keep his promise to Nella.

> **Evan** : “I’m going to build a kingdom where everyone can live happily ever after.”
> 
> **Roland** : “You are, huh? Good for you.”

In the reworking, Roland’s tone of voice for this line of dialogue is a bit more “I’m trying not to come off as sarcastic because you just lost everything you’ve ever known and loved, but I clearly don’t believe that this is a feasible goal for you” than in the original game. There is a slightly longer pause between this line and the next as Roland considers his next move.

> **Roland** : “I’ve made up my mind too… I’m going to do whatever I can to help you Evan, but I have a country that needs me too. I swear to you that I won’t leave until you are surrounded by people who you can trust with your life. How does that sound?”

( _In the original game, Roland’s promise to stay with Evan sounds pretty hollow because he doesn’t have a choice as far as he knows. Here, it’s going to be an actual character conflict affecting them both. And instead of having Evan and Roland trust each other immediately, their bond/relationship will improve over time instead._ )

Evan agrees and the sun rises, without the narration ( _as those will largely be replaced by Roland's monologues at the end of the chapters_ ). The animated cutscene ends, and we fade to black and into the in-game cutscene of Evan explaining Kingmakers to Roland.

As the leader of a nation out of the will of the people (The Democratic Union of Andoria does not have the Electoral College) rather than the Divine Right of a Dragon, Roland is put off a bit by the idea of a semi-mythical being that decides who gets to rule a country. Specifically, he objects to the fact that Mausinger gets to rule Ding Dong Dell not due to the people of his kingdom having a say about who gets to be their king, but instead because he gained the power of one dragon and thus gets to rule unchallenged. (Although as his concerned expression—during the line where Evan laments that he was never “a true king” because he never made a pact with Oakenheart—reveals, his objections to this are more than merely about the political theory behind it all.)

His obvious distaste for the idea genuinely perplexes Evan. How in the world is someone supposed to rule an entire country without the power and authority granted by a Kingmaker?

> **Evan** : “If there are no Kingmakers where you’re from, then how did you become a king in your world?”
> 
> **Roland** : “Well in my country, any prospective leaders first have to convince the citizens that they would be the best person to lead the country. Then enough of those citizens have to vote for one person before they get to be the president. If the citizens don’t like what that person ends up doing once they get the position, they can vote the president out of office in four years and elect a new one.”
> 
> **Evan** , mind blown: “… so the people of your country themselves act as the Kingmakers?”
> 
> **Roland** , thoughtfully: “Hmm, I suppose so…”

Evan asks how long Roland has been the president of his country. ( _Because it wasn’t important to the story, the game never states how far along Roland is in his presidency. Judging by the amount of grey in his hair, he’s probably only in his first term._ ) Roland explains that he’s three years into his first term (with his reelection campaign in full swing for a hopeful second term), but he’s been involved in politics in various capacities and positions for several decades. In his country, someone has to make a name for themself first otherwise no one will vote for someone they’ve never even heard of as their leader.

As Roland was put off by the concept of Kingmakers, Evan is quietly uncomfortable with the implications of leaders in Roland’s world having to earn their way into power through courting the goodwill of the people for reasons he can’t articulate just yet. If he were in that position, did the people of Ding Dong Dell think he was a good enough leader to become the next king? Mausinger and the mice clearly had not... but what about everyone else in the kingdom? After all, no one but Nella had tried to come to his rescue during the coup...

Reminded of his final promise to her, Evan concludes that he’ll just have to learn how to become that sort of great leader beloved by his people. But to do that, he’ll have to get some citizens for his new kingdom. And to do that, he’ll need a kingdom. And to do _that_ , he’ll need a Kingmaker. Since Mausinger has taken the Kingmaker meant for Evan, this means that he’ll need a new one. In the reworking, he knows from Nella’s lessons that there’s an unclaimed Kingmaker on a remote island somewhere to the northeast of the continent. It’s somewhere past Cloudcoil Canyon and across the sea, but he really doesn’t know the specific location. Roland knows even less about the geography of this world, so he advises that they start off their quest by simply acquiring a map of the world as their very first goal.

[ **Gameplay Change** : The player does not start out with a world map, just to emphasize how Evan and Roland are starting off with nothing but the clothes on their backs and whatever they could scrounge up in the first dungeon. Instead, it will only be accessible once the characters receive a copy during an upcoming story event.]

Though Roland is still clearly skeptical of Evan’s capacity to tame a being with “the strength of an entire army” that could be “the size of a castle”, he doesn’t want to discourage Evan (and it’s not like he’s got any better ideas). So the ka-tet ( _the English dub made zero_ Dark Tower _references in a game about a Gunslinger named Roland who travels to Other Worlds, so the author has taken it upon herself to make them here instead_ ) head out into the world to get themselves a Kingmaker.

[ **Gameplay Change** : Fast travel isn’t going to be a mechanic until Chapter Three since the game is pretty linear until the player reaches the Heartlands and the sidequests open up. There are no visible Tripdoors on the Overworld map; the Travel spell will transport the ka-tet to certain already visited locations as it did in _White Witch_. Also similar to the previous game, there will be visible Tripdoors in larger towns and dungeons though. Cloudcoil Canyon will still have some Tripdoors, but they won’t be accessible until the player returns after the ending of Chapter Two.]

( _In the original game, Tripdoors can only be used if the caster knows the Travel spell. Nella supposedly taught this spell to Evan, but never took him outside the kingdom to find any that could’ve been useful for a quick escape or used the spell herself to teleport him out of there during the coup. What was the point of teaching him the spell then? Removing this cutscene (and having the Travel spell be something unknown to most of the world with a few important exceptions) solves that little plot hole._ ) 

[ **Gameplay Change** : Also in this hypothetical reworking that has no budgetary restrictions, the character models on the overworld map would be “2D animation”-style like in White Witch versus the chibi models. Those can still be used in Evermore and the Skirmish mini-game since it would probably be cheaper to model all the citizens, other soldiers, and unit leaders that way.]

* * *

Once the next story event triggers, the cutscene starts off with Evan remarking upon how vast (and dangerous) the world outside the castle is. He’s never seen so many monsters up close before... Roland guesses that this is his first time outside his former kingdom, and Evan confesses that he’d barely left the castle before the events of yesterday. Being thrown into an unfamiliar world right outside his former home has been a real learning experience so far.

Roland can relate; he hasn’t been lost in the great outdoors since he was much younger. (The last proper camping trip he’d taken was way back when Roland was still actually as young as he currently looks, but he keeps this to himself for now.) Evan gives him a strange look and asks how old he is, but Auntie Martha and the Higgledy tutorial fight save Roland from having to answer that question.

After the tutorial battle, proper introductions are in order. Though he clearly and awkwardly pauses for a minute before introducing himself without any of his former titles, Auntie Martha doesn’t seem to recognize Evan as the former king of Ding Dong Dell. She takes one good look at the ka-tet, who haven’t eaten since yesterday, before gently demanding that they pop by her place for breakfast right this second as thanks for saving her. Evan and Roland are much too famished to put up any protest at this.

Once they arrive, Evan and Roland are surprised that she’s living out on her own so far from the nearest kingdom. Auntie Martha turns her nose up at the thought of living closer to civilization; she’s got her higgledies, and they’re much better company than the Ding Dong Dellians with their strict social castes (she quickly adds that present company is excluded, of course, subtly gesturing to Roland’s clothing and Evan’s ears), or the wyverns and the dangerous folk that live up in Cloudcoil Canyon...

After a much-needed breakfast and an explanation of what Higgledies are, Evan explains what he and Roland are doing out in the wilderness. Auntie Martha is frankly horrified that Evan and Roland were about to just waltz into the territory of the despicable Sky Pirates without so much as a map! She lowers her voice for dramatic effect as she tells them that folk who try to cross Cloudcoil Canyon unprepared end up robbed blind, or worse! Still, Evan is insistent on traveling through the mountain pass, Sky Pirates or not. In the reworking, Auntie Martha is a little more reluctant to let them go (since the _Timeless Tome_ DLC shows that she knows exactly what kind of people live up in those mountains... or used to) but she concedes that since she can’t stop the ka-tet, she might as well help them out.

Along with Runcible joining the party, Auntie Martha also provides a copy of the world map, a set of leather armor, and a breezeguard pendant ( _as an apology for getting rid of fast travel until the next chapter_ ), as well as some food (two loaves of bread and four swirly apples). With a wistful sigh, she claims that her adventuring days are long past so she won’t be needing that equipment anymore. All the same, one last grand adventure before the end of her days would be nice...

Before she sends them on their way, Auntie Martha uses her last lines of dialogue for this scene to make sure that Evan and Roland understand just how dangerous the Sky Pirates of Cloudcoil Canyon are, especially their leader. She warns the ka-tet that the Cloud Snake’s men are wicked, merciless, and cruel thugs. They’d gut anyone who crosses their path without a second thought and put a crossbow bolt through your eye before you had a chance to scream!

( _The player finds out much later that although Auntie Martha had a bad history with the predecessors to the current Sky Pirates, she’d never actually met any of the current inhabitants of Cloudcoil Canyon and was simply taking all of the accounts from the “survivors” of sky pirate “attacks” at face value. But due to her past, her obvious bias is understandable._ )

Evan and Roland thank Auntie Martha and her higgledies for their hospitality and head back on the road once again. A few moments after leaving the cottage, Evan asks Roland what Auntie Martha meant about them being able to see higgledies. Can most people not see them? And what makes him and Roland able to? Roland points out that it should be him asking Evan these questions, and suggesting that their new friend might have some answers. Runcible confirms that most people can’t see higgledies, but his attempt at an explanation of why the ka-tet can see him and his brethren is incomprehensible to both Evan and Roland.

On the way to Cloudcoil Canyon, there is one additional dialogue. After Roland asking why Evan has cat ears (Oh my god Roland, you can’t just ask someone why they have cat ears!), there’s another exchange in which Roland asks Evan if he’s seen or heard about higgledies until today. Evan replies that he hasn’t; it looks like there’s still so much to learn about the world that was never covered in Nella’s lessons...

The ka-tet pauses at the entrance to Cloudcoil Canyon for a quick breather, and Roland pulls out the world map they just received. He checks one last time to see if there might be another way around the Soaring Peaks to their destination, but it appears that Evan was right: Cloudcoil Canyon is somehow the only path through the mountains.

> **Roland** : “This can’t be right... How do people get to the eastern side of the continent if they can’t make it through here?”
> 
> **Evan** : “Nella told me that in order to avoid the sky pirates and mountain bandits, most people take ships to the southern tip of the continent then cross the Shallow Shoals on foot because of the oceanic rifts. But that would take us weeks or even months! And the only available port—”
> 
> **Roland** : “—is controlled by Ding Dong Dell, right?”

Evan nods. Speaking of boats, he realizes that they’ll still have to find a ship or something in order to cross the ocean to the island of Cwsg-y-Ddrai where the king’s cradle is located. While examining the map, Roland has come to the same conclusion.

> **Roland** , with a sigh: “Alright, we’ll deal with it one thing at a time. Hopefully just the two—er, three of us will be able to slip past the Sky Pirates without them noticing...”

Further along the path, the ka-tet get more free stuff from a sympathetic merchant. Upon receiving the Leafbook viewer, Evan is amazed at this high-tech device while Roland is bemused that a world without mass transportation more advanced than ships has somehow skipped ahead several generations of technology and invented viewing devices for social media networks with batteries that don’t ever need to be charged! (When asked, the grimalkin merchant says that he’s never heard of a “telephone” or “internet”, but he’s heard that the big fancy metal ships they have in Broadleaf do run on some sort of engine with steam...)

* * *

The ka-tet continues on through the canyon dungeon, collecting another Higgledy and the Important Stick along the way. At the end of the canyon road, the Sky Pirates attack. ( _This is also the point at which some of the biggest problems with this chapter begin to emerge._

_Problem Number One: Tani’s dramatic entrance is the only thing that stops Khunbish and Chingis from ending the game prematurely in Chapter Two. She also calls them out for “taking the law into their own hands” without consulting Batu, their boss/Chief. As she says this, she doesn’t sound surprised at all, implying that this insubordination might be normal behavior for the two of them. The Citizen’s Almanac introduced in Chapter Four even notes that Khunbish has an ambitious streak and is aiming to succeed Batu as leader of the Sky Pirates. Also according to said Almanac, Chingis is “Batu’s most trusted deputy”. Oh really now? The cutscene in which he is introduced makes it seem that Batu's faith may be misplaced._

_This could have been passed off as a general trait of the Sky Pirates: their reputation as “despicable pirates” is partly due to the fact that there’s a lot of infighting among them and they can’t even trust one another, let alone be trusted by others. However, this never comes up again, and Chingis and Khunbish remain completely loyal to Batu for the entire rest of the game after this one scene. They’re so loyal that they’re Batu’s go-to guys when he needs people to help clear out the Heartlands for Evan’s new kingdom. (One would think Roland at the very least would object to this…)_

_Problem Number Two: If Chingis and Khunbish were always going to go in with a “shoot first and ask questions later” approach, why’d they bother with the net launcher? Why not start off attacking the “trespassers” with the mini-gun attached to their sky-skimmer?_

  
Why are you launching rope nets when you’ve got a _freaking mini-gun_!? Is that thing just decorative?

_In the reworking, the ka-tet’s first encounter with the Sky Pirates doesn’t need to change from a narrative perspective as long as Chingis and Khunbish’s intent here is not to kill... at first. However, in terms of gameplay, there should have been a boss or miniboss fight at the end of Cloudcoil Canyon as in every other story-relevant dungeon._ )

* * *

As Evan and Roland reach the second higgledy stone on the canyon road in the reworking, the sounds of engines can be heard in the distance. Evan hopes that the Sky Pirates will be too busy doing whatever it is that Sky Pirates do to notice them. Once the final waystone of this area is mere meters away, Roland stops as the engine noises grow louder.

> **Roland** : “Huh? Do you hear that?”

He turns around... then grabs Evan and yanks him aside as a small aircraft with feathers flies out from the shadow of the sun right towards them. Since there are no other sky pirates present in the original cutscene, there’s only the one sky-skimmer diving at them with both Chingis and Khunbish on board. Khunbish fires his net launcher at Evan and Roland...but since the net is made of rope, they have time to summon their swords from their arms bands and cut themselves free by the time Chingis and Khunbish can land their aircraft.

Judging by their initial surprise once they find Evan and Roland freed, the two sky pirates weren’t expecting their well-dressed (compared to the sky pirates at least) targets to be armed when they decided to attack. ( _Evan has an optional line of dialogue after the arms band tutorial in the last chapter in which he tells Roland not to lose or damage the arms band that Nella gave him because it’s valuable. Presumably, not everyone in this world would be expected to have one in their possession due to their high cost if this is the case._ ) They quickly rally and pull out their own weapons in response.

> **Khunbish** , while arming his crossbow: Ye’re brave indeed to come a-wand’rin’ into these parts uninvited…”
> 
> **Roland** : “Sorry, we’re not from around here...”
> 
> **Evan** : “We have important business beyond the valley! You simply must let us pass!”

Khunbish and Chingis exchange glances then break out into hysterical laughter at the boy’s proclamation, as if he were some kind of king or someone actually important! Evan’s ears droop a little at their reaction, and Roland readjusts his grip on his sword with a grimace.

> **Khunbish** , in a mocking imitation of Evan’s accent: “Oh, must we indeed? Ever so sorry, Yer Majesty, but this ‘ere’s the territory o’ the fearsome Cloud Snake Batu, an’ he don’t take much to the likes o’ intruders like yerselves!”
> 
> **Chingis** , unsheathing his sword: “I’ll tell ye what we simply must do, boy- string up all them as comes a-spyin’ on our secret base!”

[ **Gameplay Change** : Before Evan and Roland can retort that they’re not spies, the cutscene quickly transitions into a two v. two miniboss fight with Chingis as the melee attacker/tank and Khunbish as the ranged support. (Although it’s not really a fair fight if only one side has higgledies.) They don’t really get any special moves, so the programmers can use an assortment of the human-sized enemy attacks/animations for them. The sky pirates don’t get any specialized weakness or anything either; only Khunbish is a bit weak towards Storm attacks (as a reference to his Citizen's Almanac entry), and not by much.

Once either party gets their collective HP taken down by about half, the fight ends. “Winning” or “losing” the fight doesn’t affect the story at all, Evan and Roland still end up captured either way. (In fact, losing the fight actually ends up benefiting the player more in Chapter Three; when the other sky pirates hear that Evan and Roland lost a fight to _Khunbish and Chingis_ of all people, they’ll gift Tani a bunch of weapons and armor for them so they “won’t be slowin’ ‘er down” while she and Batu are out traveling with them.)]

Wiping the sweat from his brow after that battle, Chingis complains that these particular intruders have been a real handful so far. Khunbish agrees that dragging this lot back to base for the boss will be a real pain…

...unless something were to happen that meant the intruders never make it to the base…

> **Khunbish** , reloading his crossbow: “Right then lads, ye’ve contravened Rule 7, Section D o’ the Piratical Aviator’s Code. An’ the punishment for such a heinous crime… is death!
> 
> **Roland** : “But we’re not aviators. We walked here!”

Khunbish isn’t having his sass and aims his weapon. Before he can fire, Tani flies in out of nowhere because her “Chingis and Khunbish are messing up something somewhere” senses were going haywire...or something along those lines. ( _Problem Number Three: Tani’s big dramatic entrance is cool, but the sky-skimmer that she flew in on must have then crashed offscreen without a pilot after she leaps off._ )

  
Who is flying the ~~plane~~ sky-skimmer!?!?

Tani can still be piloting at the start of the scene in the reworking, just with a generic sky pirate NPC behind her that has to scramble over and take the controls once she bails out. ( _It’s a bit of a nitpick-y change, but it does show that Tani can get away with shenanigans that the other sky pirates can’t due to being the bosses daughter if there’s someone to react to her dangerous stunt like it’s a semi-common occurrence._ )

(Outfit Change: Give Tani some cute orange capri-length leggings with blue trim or some other color combination that matches with the color scheme of her outfit because the bottom half of her design is kind of basic compared to the detail on the top half. The canyon might be hot, but up in the higher peaks where the Base is located (and especially in the air itself when flying) the wind chill must be cold enough that it would make sense for her to be decked out in a fur cape and fur-lined boots. In which case, her bare legs must be freezing!)

> **Chingis** : “M-Mistress Tani!”
> 
> **Tani, with more exasperation in her voice** : “Taking the law into your own hands _again_ , eh? The Boss’ll love that!

Khunbish tries to stammer an excuse as Tani calls her father’s lieutenants out on trying to subvert their Chief’s authority. Two grown-ass men tremble in fear of a teenage girl as she reminds them that they only have the authority and independence that they have due to the Cloud Snake. And the Boss can easily take that away from Chingis and Khunbish if they go around acting like they’re the ones in charge instead of him!

> **Tani** , motioning to the captive intruders: “What happens to them isn’t your decision—it’s Batu’s. Now take these two back to base before I tell the Boss that once again, you’ve forgotten who’s _really_ in charge around here!”
> 
> **Chingis and Khunbish** : “Yes, Miss...”

While this conversation has been going on, Roland and Evan have been trying to look for an opening to cut and run. But their current position has them backed against a wall with the only way forward through the three sky pirates. With her father’s lieutenants suitably chastised, Tani turns back towards the newcomers.

> **Tani** : “Don’t worry—the Cloud Snake is a reasonable man...most of the time. Just don’t cause any trouble, and you’ll be out of here in no time...as long as you’re willing to barter, of course.”

( _Why would Tani tell these two random strangers who her father is and her exact relationship with him? What tactical purpose does this serve? That exposition will be delivered in a more organic way in a couple of minutes anyway..._ )

With a cheeky grin, the sky pirate girl turns away as Evan and Roland look at each other in confusion. Barter? With what? They don’t even have anything valuable on them...

Cut to a very wide (and just a bit out of focus) shot of Chingis and Khunbish leading Evan and Roland away in cuffs while Tani heads in the opposite direction. Chingis asks where she’s going, and Tani yells back that she’s still on patrol for another hour. She’ll return at the end of her shift, and not a moment sooner!

> **Tani, serious** : “The wyverns are on the prowl again... For the sake of everyone back at base who can’t fight, we have to stay vigilant and alert!”

The camera follows her as she goes off on her own, keeping the same focus and depth of field the whole time...as if the camera is meant to be the point of view of someone or something watching this whole scene from a considerable distance. Tani looks back in the direction of the base with a frustrated sigh, then her expression hardens as she turns away and gets back to her patrol.

As the scene fades to black, there’s a cacophony of hissing and quiet growls of many, many wyverns...


	4. Ch.2.2 - (No) Second Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sky Pirate culture is given more complexity and Batu's change of heart is given more context.

## Chapter Two: Cloud Snakes and Kingmakers (Part Two)

( _Problem Number Four: Batu and the rest of the Sky Pirates (minus Tani to a certain extent) must serve two purposes over the course of this chapter: as an antagonistic force and obstacle in Evan and Roland’s journey at the beginning of the chapter, and then as Evan’s newfound (and only) allies at the end of it. These are two completely different roles, but it would be possible to bring a set of characters from one to the other with enough character development for them and the other characters they interact with..._

_...but the original game doesn’t do that, so the Sky Pirates’ collective change of heart towards Evan comes off as sudden and contrived. The best example of this would be Batu's “character development” over the course of this chapter. His pivot from “chuck these intruders off the cliff without a second thought” to “okay, my whole band of bloodthirsty Sky Pirates will now die for you, small child with the world’s tiniest Kingmaker” is so abrupt that a player could reasonably assume that they'd either missed a scene or there was an error in the game's translation._

_There are ways for him to get from one stance to another, but not enough time passes and not enough on-screen development occurs for it to seem like a natural progression. Time is also one of the main issues here. The game can’t afford to spend too much time developing the conflict in this chapter because the “meat and bones” of the original game doesn’t really start until Chapter Three; this is all still the “prologue” to Evan building up his kingdom and the main conflict against Doloran. Another issue is that after this chapter in the main game, the player will never have to come back to this area again (except for a couple of optional sidequests). So why bother to build up the Sky Pirates/the Sky Pirates' Base if they won't be important after this chapter ends? If corners had to be cut during the game’s development, this chapter would be a reasonable place to do it._

_Fortunately this reworking is not bound to such parameters. In order for all of the main party members to react to the events of this chapter in a way that feels in-character, the motivations of the Sky Pirates and their feelings towards Evan and Roland over the duration of this chapter will have to change, starting with Batu. The entirety of Batu’s change of heart regarding Evan as a viable king centers around this upcoming conversation with Evan. Rescuing Tani would earn Batu’s gratitude, but is Evan simply acquiring a Kingmaker really enough to get Batu to give up his position of leadership of the Sky Pirates to serve a child king without a country? (For that matter, is it enough to also get every other Sky Pirate (who’ve been independent of a proper kingdom for who knows how long) to swear fealty to this random former prince who just showed up out of nowhere?)_

_Does Batu hate being the Chief of the Sky Pirates and was looking for any excuse to hand authority over to someone else because he didn’t feel comfortable in a leadership role? Is he that much of a helicopter parent that he’ll give up power to follow Tani as she joins the ka-tet on their adventure? The game implies that he sees something of himself in Evan, but is that really a good motivation to throw away all that you’ve worked for to follow a child?_

_To make Batu’s eventual decision to join the ka-tet work, he needs clear motivations to do that are properly conveyed to the player. (Tani also has this issue, but that will be dealt with later.) All of the ka-tet will get more character development in the reworking, but as the very first party members acquired the two sky pirates need to make a more definite impression so their inclusion in the party doesn’t feel as forced in the reworking. But in order to flesh out Tani and Batu, we need to also flesh out the rest of Sky Pirates as a culture as well. This leads into..._

_Problem Number Five: The Sky Pirates as an independent tribe/nation would have been more interesting if they hadn’t sworn allegiance to a kingdom that doesn’t even exist yet. They are one of the only groups of people in the game who are not connected to a territory with a Kingmaker in the beginning. However, wyvern troubles aside, the Sky Pirates seem to be doing alright for themselves as a group without the power and protection of a Kingmaker. They’re in an isolated part of the world away from any major kingdom, and they have the advantage of skill in aerial combat when the only other kingdom with the tech (Broadleaf) is on another continent entirely._

_The Sky Pirates don’t seem particularly interested in acquiring one for themselves either; they know the location of the Cradle of Light, but aren’t blocking Evan’s path to it in order to claim that power for themselves. If they had been, they would have been doing everything in their power to stop him, even after he and Roland saved Tani. Their continued existence as a fortified mountain village without a Kingmaker would serve as proof that a tribe of people doesn’t necessarily need the power of a Kingmaker to survive in this world... if they hadn’t sworn fealty to the first person who came along with a Kingmaker (even though Lofty isn’t intimidating or powerful at all for most of the game)._

_That won’t be happening in the reworking; instead, the Sky Pirates will get to maintain their own autonomy, have an expanded power structure so that Batu joining the ka-tet won’t leave them leaderless, and ally with Evermore once Evan has more to his name than just a travel-sized Kingmaker._ )

* * *

**12:30pm approx., Lower Landing Platform, Southern Sky Pirates’ Base, Day One**

Batu is no longer the sole Chief of the Sky Pirates in the reworking, therefore it stands to reason that the Sky Pirates must have other Bases that the other Chiefs rule over. The title of this next area that Evan and Roland are led to is now the Southern Sky Pirates’ Base. The establishing shot of the area lingers a few seconds longer more on the distant structures of the base (some of which will be visited in the reworking, but mostly in cutscenes) just to establish a sense of scale, despite the (current) playable map being so small.

As they are led through the gates to the lower landing platform that Khunbish dismissively refers to as “The Visitor’s Center” (because that’s all that any non-Sky Pirate gets to see of the place), Evan and Roland are suitably impressed by the Cloud Snake’s base. They’re even more surprised when Chingis offhandedly mentions that the Sky Pirates have more bases far off among the Soaring Peaks by referring to their current location as “their closest base to Cloudcoil Canyon”. Roland, who was expecting something more along the lines of a few scant buildings and maybe forty guys, is reevaluating the escape plans he came up with on their walk up here. This place is massive, and supposedly there’s more of these bases around? These Sky Pirates clearly aren’t just some random band of thugs if they’re well-established enough to have a network of multiple massive structures. Auntie Martha really should have mentioned this earlier...

While Chingis and Khunbish are busy conversing with a guard by the gate about the two new ~~marks~~ captives they’re bringing in, Evan whispers to Roland that he had similar misconceptions about what the Sky Pirates’ Base was going to be as well. He had no idea there were that many sky pirates up here in the mountains, but then again he’d only heard about them from stories because the Sky Pirates were supposed to be very elusive folks who only left a few lucky survivors when they attacked...

Evan wonders what the infamous leader of the Sky Pirates will be like in person. Auntie Martha made him sound like a proper tyrant, but Roland isn’t so sure. That girl Tani had made him sound like someone who could be reasoned with... for a price. The only problem with that is the fact that they have nothing of value on them, except the Leafbook viewer. But would the sky pirates even care about social media?

Noticing that Evan still looks apprehensive, Roland points out that Tani is Evan’s age and has apparently been bossing around the Cloud Snake’s subordinates like she owns the place for some time (if Chingis and Khunbish’s reactions are anything to go by). It seems to him that a truly merciless and cruel man wouldn’t tolerate the antics of a teenage girl messing around in his operation.

> **Roland** : “Still, that doesn’t mean that we should let out guards down. They are sky pirates, after all.”
> 
> **Evan** : “Wh-what do you think they’re going to do to us, Roland?” 

Before Roland can answer him, Chingis barks at the two captives to stop whispering among themselves and keep walking. As the group marches forward towards the center of the area, the other sky pirates regard them with varying levels of animosity and curiosity. Evan notices that there are a few children running around among the various adults, and hopes that Roland was right about their presence here being an indicator of the Cloud Snake’s potential clemency.

Chingis and Khunbish stop in front of an authoritative-looking older sky pirate, who looks unimpressed by their latest “visitors”, and Khunbish asks for the whereabouts of their boss. The crowd parts as the infamous Cloud Snake Batu arrives. He is followed by the three other similarly-dressed Sky Pirate Chiefs and two older important-looking sky pirates, who observe Batu’s every move as he interrogates the “trespassers”. ( _They will later be identified as representatives from the Sky Pirate Council, an organization that is name-dropped in some optional dialogue during the beginning of Chapter Five in the original game. Batu calls them to send their best engineers when the sky-skimmers are malfunctioning apparently, so the Sky Pirates have to be more of an organization than just this one base in the original game as well. They will play a slightly larger role in the reworking._ )

When Evan pleads that they’re not here to cause trouble and are only passing through to get to the king’s cradle, there is some laughter from the assembled sky pirates. One of the other Sky Pirate Chiefs recalls that the last bigshot who made an attempt at trying to obtain the Kingmaker from within the cradle brought an entire army with him, and no trace of any of them was ever found. And these two want to take a crack at it all by themselves? Really, the sky pirates are doing them a favor by mercy-killing them now than whatever grisly fate has befallen all others who attempted the Kingmaker’s trials...

> **Batu** , pointedly ignoring that commentary: “Ye caused trouble the second ye set foot on sky pirate turf, lad. ’Tis a violation o’ the Code—one that carries the penalty o’ death! … Ye’ll be dashed on the rocks at the bottom o’ the Canyon, just like all the rest.”
> 
> **Roland** , with a scoff: ‘ _So much for him being “a reasonable man”..._ ’
> 
> **Sky Pirate NPC 1** : “The Code must be obeyed! And the carrion crows must be fed!”

(If the player tracks down this particular sky pirate later after the truth has been revealed, she’ll tell you that it’s her job to say that line every time. She’s quite proud of her performance, maybe she’ll become an actress or something if she ever gets tired of the Sky Pirate life...)

Evan panics, but Roland quickly informs Batu and the rest of the sky pirates that Evan is royalty (leaving out the fact that he’s been freshly booted off the throne, of course). It would probably not be in their best interest to be responsible for executing a king of a major kingdom. Unfortunately, this information seems to have produced the opposite effect from what Roland was hoping for. There’s some dirty looks and dark muttering from the members of the crowd who seemed more neutral before. Batu remarks that the Sky Pirates have lost plenty of good men and women to the archers of Ding Dong Dell. Perhaps capturing and executing their king would be their way of getting vengeance for all those lives lost...

...if he’s really expected to believe that the newest king of Ding Dong Dell would just be trekking through the canyon on his way to the last unclaimed king’s cradle in the world merely for kicks and giggles. Batu, looking down at their dirty and torn clothing, scoffs that the Sky Pirates might be isolated from the rest of the world, but they’re not completely uninformed—

Khunbish interrupts to inform his Chief that he has heard rumors of a coup in Ding Dong Dell, a mouse on the throne, and the former king’s miraculous escape. Roland is inwardly kicking himself for thinking that bringing up Evan’s pedigree would be something with positive connotations for the people who have chosen to live in the mountains seemingly to get away from the kingdom. Meanwhile, Evan’s racking his brain to try and remember if his father, Nella, or anyone else in the castle ever mentioned that Ding Dong Dell was in conflict with the Sky Pirates in some capacity.

> **Batu** , thoughtfully: “Is that so?”
> 
> **Sky Pirate NPC 2** , slowly: “Well...that means he ain’t king of nuthin’ anymore!”
> 
> **Other Sky Pirate Chief 2** , disaffected: “All the more reason to reason to sling ‘em off a cliff an’ be done with it….”
> 
> **Sky Pirate NPC 3** , with audible bloodlust: “My uncle and my fiancée’s brother were killed by some o’ them damn grimalkin! If ye need someone to chuck ‘im off the cliff, I volunteer!”

As the crowd around them has started getting more worked up, Batu is still observing Evan and Roland while scratching his chin. Silently, the other leaders’ gazes are still fixed on him.

> **Batu** , slowly: “Aye, we could leave them to the carrion... However, if whoever’s in charge down in Ding Dong Dell is still looking for them, I wonder how much they’d be willing ta fork over if we brought ‘em back alive... Can’t do no harm to stay on their good side now, can it?”

He turns to the other Chiefs and Council Representatives to gauge their approval, but they remain unmoved. Some of the sky pirates seem pleased with this idea, but some are still calling out for blood. Evan has an expression of utter dread at the thought of being dragged all the way back to Ding Dong Dell to face Mausinger’s wrath. Perhaps being thrown off a cliff would be the less painful way to go...

* * *

Just as it looks like it’s all going pear-shaped for the ka-tet in the worst possible way, Chingis runs in with the news that Tani has been captured by the wyverns! About thirty of them or so just flew out of nowhere and kidnapped her! And in exchange for her safe return, they’re demanding the Sky Pirates’ surrender of their land! There are gasps from the crowd and uneasy muttering as all eyes fall on Batu. Roland looks around to see if they can use this distraction to escape somehow, but Evan looks quizzically at Batu. Tani must be someone important to him if the wyverns are using her as their hostage...

We cut to a closer shot of Batu and the focus stays on him the whole time as he processes this unwelcome news, as opposed to cutting to a wider shot in the original cutscene. Knowing that he’s being observed by more than just his own men right now, Batu’s outward reaction is more subdued but the audience is allowed to witness his inner turmoil at this dilemma.

> **Batu** , enraged: ‘ _The devils! Pick on a mere slip of a girl, would they? But...if we desert this here base, we’ll be given them an’ everyone out for Sky Pirate blood a massive foothold in our territory. Not to mention endangerin’ all the other Bases...The lousy lizards’ll slaughter every last man, woman, an’ child in the Soarin’ Peaks if we give them the opportunity!_
> 
> **Batu** , audibly conflicted: _But..._ ’

A flashback montage of static illustrated images of Tani’s childhood flashes by on the screen for a few moments, similar to the one that Evan had when leaving Nella behind for the first time in the previous chapter. We see Batu holding baby Tani in what appears to be a forest, the image from the credit sequence of father and daughter on a sky-skimmer, and Batu teaching Tani how to shoot an arrow for the first time.

( _This repetition is a quick and dirty way to make a comparison to Evan’s anguish at being forced to abandon Nella to her fate, and thus transfer some of that sympathy to Batu’s situation._ )

The longer his silence drags on, the more uneasy the other sky pirates look. Roland gently elbows Evan to tell him that he’s come up with an escape plan, but Evan is looking on at the ongoing spectacle with an expression of concern. Batu turns back to cast a pleading look at one of the Council Representatives behind him. He stares back at Batu, completely stone-faced.

> **Batu** , with a barely-audible sigh: “It won’t do. She may be me only daughter, but the needs of one can’t outweigh the many." 

Since Tani didn’t randomly reveal this fact to Evan and Roland earlier in the reworking, this bit of information is now news to them and they react accordingly.

> **Evan** , shocked: “Wha—? Tani is your—?“
> 
> **Batu** : “Aye, she’s the blood o’ my blood’s what she is.”

( _The_ Lair of the Lost Lord _DLC revealed that Tani’s adopted, so that line might be a plothole now. Or perhaps it was mistranslated._ )

> **Batu** , reluctantly: “And if the boot was on the other foot, I know she’d do the same.” 

The other Sky Pirate leaders remain as immovable as ever. There are some vaguely sympathetic noises from the crowd, but no one objects out loud besides Khunbish. Batu barks at him that he’s made his decision and that’s the end of that.

Back with the ka-tet, Roland is glaring daggers at Batu for even considering putting literally anything over the safety of his kid (though we won’t be able to see just how hard he’s projecting here for another few chapters). Evan looks around at the crowd’s lack of reaction to this proclamation, then stands up to meet Batu’s gaze.

> **Evan** , indignant: “Wait! You can’t just leave her to die!”
> 
> **Batu** , through gritted teeth: “What’s that now…?”
> 
> **Evan** , to the assembled sky pirates: “If none of you are willing to go, I will! I—We’ll rescue her!”

He receives a few scoffs and expressions of disbelief from the crowd. The other leaders remain impassive, but Batu looks as if he might be considering it...

> **Roland** , thinking quickly: “The wyverns probably won’t be expecting two people who aren’t Sky Pirates to try and rescue her. So we’d have the element of surprise on our side if you let us go...”
> 
> **Evan** , determined: “Please, Chief Batu! You have to let us try! Tani saved our lives! We are honor-bound to repay the debt!”

This earnest declaration is met by more noises of disbelief and scorn from the assembled crowd. Batu scoffs at the mention of “honor”. Has this lad forgotten that he’s currently surrounded by Sky Pirates?

> **Sky Pirate NPC 2** : “What a buncha rubbish! Ye’re just try’na save your own skins, curse ye!”
> 
> **Khunbish** , to Batu: “Aye! There’re after a way out, Boss! You take it from me!”
> 
> **Evan** , ignoring everyone else but Batu: “We won’t run away! … You have my word as— ... You have my word!”

Something about this line makes Batu’s frown deepen. There’s a brief flash of another static illustrated image: this time a young boy about Evan’s age (with all identifying features obscured) is begging a merchant to spare him some food, giving his word that he’ll pay him back once he has the money, only for the merchant to spit in his face and tell him that “his word” is worth nothing without the money to back it up. Back to Batu, who still appears to be considering Evan’s proposal.

> **Batu** , suspicious: “Just what’re ye plottin’, laddie? I don’t have time for none o’ yer trickery.”
> 
> **Evan** : “It’s not trickery, I swear! ... I have to live.”

Quick cut to Roland, who looks surprised at the determination in the young man who was cowering behind his governess the night before. Batu raises an eyebrow.

> **Evan** : “I have to become a king again. I have to build a country where everyone can be happy!”

There are some sarcastic snickers from the other sky pirates, but something about Evan’s earnest proclamation seems to really get Batu’s hackles up. His expression of suspicion is quickly morphing into rage. Another static image shows the same boy from before getting thrown into a cell by two city guards before Batu’s next few lines.

> **Batu** , scornfully: “Your had yer chance at bein’ king, lad - and ye made a right pig’s ear of it... did ye not?”

Evan looks down in embarrassment. He’s not wrong... Roland is glaring daggers at Batu yet again.

> **Batu** , bitterly: “These blighted lands are rife with misery an’ war...”

Between lines, there’s another quick cut to an illustrated image of a pack of bandits attacking a small village. Cut to a second image of that same village from a distance, now on fire, shows the silhouette of the boy from earlier.

> **Batu** : “...No one’s buildin’ a happy realm round here anytime soon…”

* * *

( _This is just conjecture, but perhaps this next bit of dialogue was voiced because the writers knew how weak Batu’s apparent change of heart would seem otherwise. It’s still a very jarring transition from just text to voiceover, so the next part of the cutscene (which is animated instead of in-game, but the change is fairly subtle) needs more of an obvious visual transition._ ) At the end of Batu’s line, the transition into the animated cutscene begins on a sharp cut to a close up of Evan’s face as he visibly swallows down all his fear and doubt before announcing his intentions to all the sky pirates present, especially Batu.

> **Evan** , resolutely: “Then…I’ll put an end to war and misery! I’ll unite all the kingdoms in peace!”
> 
> **Batu** , surprised and mildly amused: “What’s that now?…king o’ the whole blessed world eh, lad?”
> 
> **Evan** : “If that’s what it takes, I have to try!…I can’t let it all end here! I just can’t!”

Laughter from the assembled sky pirates, save for Batu, who’s having another quick static illustrated flashback. That mysterious boy is leaning against a wall, starving and alone, repeating that he can’t let it all end here. Even if the whole world is against him, he refuses to just lay down and die!

> **Sky Pirate NPC 3** , voice dripping with scorn: “Is that really the best you can come up wit, boy? Pathetic!”

Batu mulls on this, looking back at the other Sky Pirate leaders, then over his shoulder towards the entrance gate where Chingis is still standing, looking back at his usually boisterous Boss with mild confusion at his current inaction.

> **Batu** : “Silence, ye mangy curs!”

The crowd’s laughter dies out gradually rather than abruptly in the game. One of the other Chiefs raises an eyebrow, which is the most emotive that any of the other leaders have been so far.

> **Batu** , turning back to Evan: “Ye were sayin’, lad?”
> 
> **Evan** , determined: “If I can’t repay my debt to Tani, I don’t deserve to be king… I don’t deserve to live! So kill us if you must!”

Alarmed by the “I” suddenly becoming an “us”, Roland shoots a quick concerned glance towards Evan, who either ignores his unease or just doesn’t notice.

> **Evan** : “But at least give us a chance to save her first. And if we do… grant us safe passage to the king’s cradle.”
> 
> **Batu** : “Hmm…”

As he considers, there are some muttered remarks from the crowd, all of them doubtful. Roland observes that the amount of disdain in their tones has decreased slightly. The other leaders look on impassively, but their disapproval is obvious. Batu responds to said disapproval with an impassive expression of his own.

> **Batu** : “So that’s yer game, eh?”

There’s one last static illustrated flashback to a man who’s clearly another Sky Pirate Chief, judging by his style of dress. He lets out a barking laugh before repeating this line and adding that he accepts the deal: he’ll let the person he’s addressing (offscreen) into the Sky Pirates if they can best him in combat!

> **Evan** : “Yes.”
> 
> **Batu** : “... All right, sunshine. Ye’ve got yerself a deal.”

Before the scene fades to black and the cutscene ends, there are a few quiet murmurs of dissent from the onlooking Sky Pirates, specifically the members of the Sky Pirate Council. This clearly bothers Batu on some level, but he tries to ignore it. Evan and Roland are just happy to still be alive/not on their way back to Ding Dong Dell at this point.

* * *

After the cutscene, most of the sky pirate NPCs scattered around the base are still too hostile to talk to. The ones that do have dialogue threaten Evan that he’s dead meat if he even thinks about trying to run away, warn him that he’d better save Tani if he knows what’s good for him, or just laugh in his face and call him “wyvern chow” because they don’t think he stands a chance against them.

Once outside of the Base and after the dialogue in which Evan worries about Tani, this exchange occurs:

> **Roland** : “Hey Evan? Good job back there, I didn’t think you had it in you to talk your way out of that.”
> 
> **Evan** : “Thank you Roland. I just… spoke from my heart, that’s all. I meant everything that I said, and I think Chief Batu really understood.”
> 
> **Roland** , skeptically: “Or he’s just so desperate to save his daughter that he’ll turn to a couple of outsiders. Seems like some of the other sky pirates weren’t too happy about that…Of course, if he really cared about his daughter, that shouldn’t have been a problem for him—”
> 
> **Evan** , thrown off by his sudden bitterness: “I think you’re being a bit unfair, Roland. Chief Batu is responsible for all of the other people in the base, and—”
> 
> **Roland** , projecting like an IMAX theater: “—“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”? That’s all well and good, until it’s your kid that’s in danger...If you ever have kids someday, you’ll understand.”
> 
> **Evan** : "...huh?"

Another bit of dialogue before the Wyvern’s Den involves Roland asking Evan about the Sky Pirates’ hostility towards Ding Dong Dell and Evan truthfully responding that he had no idea there was any sort of conflict between the two groups at any point. None that he can recall at least, but then again he hadn’t really delved too deeply into the kingdom’s full military history before his father’s murder...

> **Evan** : “Perhaps Mausinger and Batu are right... Maybe I’m not cut out to be a true king...”

Roland quickly retorts that neither of them could be described as a “true king”, so Evan shouldn’t be bothered by their words. Batu’s clearly not even top dog of the Sky Pirates, it seems. Plus, Evan was only a king for about a month, and that’s not nearly enough time for him to have learned the ins and outs of his kingdom. He certainly didn’t get a whole lot done during his first month in office. (Mostly because that’s not how a presidency works, but Evan doesn’t need to know that right now.)

* * *

**2:05 pm approx., Wyvern’s Den, Day One**

One miniboss fight against a Wyvern Warlord later, Evan and Roland finally figure out how to open the gate that leads to Tani’s cell. As they traverse the path up to where she's being kept, they can hear her loudly berating her rescuer(s) from the back of the room.

> **Tani** , at the top of her lungs: “—about time you got here, you grizzled old coward! I thought you’d gotten lost on your own turf or something! What, did you stop for a spot of tea before you...”

Her yelling trails off as she realizes that she’s hearing two sets of footsteps and neither are heavy enough to be her father’s. She’s even more surprised when Evan and Roland turn the corner and the two guys she’d “saved” earlier are here to actually rescue her. (Although the strange green creature that cut her down was probably the weirdest part of it all. Where had that thing come from? She's seen something like it before...) After belated introductions, Tani asks what Evan and Roland are even doing here. Did they somehow wander into this den of wyverns by accident? When they tell her about the deal they made with Batu, she seems almost... upset at this?


	5. Ch.2.3 - The Rule of Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tani gets some driving motivation as a character, Lofty is a jerk, and Evan will have to work harder to prove himself if he wants to be king of the world.

## Chapter Two: Cloud Snakes and Kingmakers (Part Three)

_Problem Number Six: Tani’s lack of apparent motivation to join the ka-tet. When asked why she decides to join up with Evan and Roland on their quest in the original game, Tani’s only reply is that Batu’s raised her to do whatever she wants and she wants to do this. That’s a pretty weak excuse, and the only real reason she’s expressed interest in Evan and Roland’s quest thus far is that Evan reminds her of her dad somehow. (And I am not touching the implications of that…)_

_Esther from_ White Witch _had reasons for coming along with Oliver on his journey aside from gratitude towards him for saving her (namely defeating the great evil threatening the whole world (general goal) and becoming a master at taming familiars (personal goal)), even if the writers forgot to give her an actual character arc. At least her interactions with the other characters in the party were memorable, but that’s a problem with more characters than just Tani in_ Revenant Kingdom.

_Tani is clearly meant to be her counterpart in this game (as evidenced by her getting Esther’s outfit as an alternate costume), but the original game doesn’t even give her sufficient motivation for joining the main quest other than “Tani joins these relative strangers in their journey on a whim because she’s bored, lol”. Does she randomly join up with other groups of travelers that pass by Cloudcoil Canyon? Looking at the initial announcement trailer of the game and the more conceptual artwork from the official Art Books, there was a point in the development of this game in which Tani was envisioned as the third lead character of this story. Or at the very least, more important than she ends up being in the final game._

_In the reworking, Tani and Batu will get separate yet connected character arcs with character development spanning the rest of the game, plus much more interaction with the rest of the ka-tet. In fact, the whole back half of the game will have more of the ka-tet interacting with each other once the gang’s all here. The party in_ Revenant Kingdom _never quite felt like a cohesive whole the way that the main characters of_ White Witch _did, and that’s a result of lack of both individual character development and development as a group.)_

* * *

**2:15 pm approx., Just outside the Wyverns’ Den, Day One**

In order to not have a long, expository cutscene in which three characters just stand around an empty room, the next scene takes place as the ka-tet walks back to the Southern Sky Pirates’ Base. ( _It’s fine, the hypothetical reworking has the budget for it._ ) Tani assures Evan and Roland (and Wiff-Waff) that she’s grateful for the rescue, honestly, but they can’t help but remark upon her unenthusiastic to being freed from the clutches of a pack of bloodthirsty flying lizards. After a moment, Roland guesses why. He assures Tani that there’s no reason to be embarrassed about having to be saved by a pair of outsiders. First of all, she saved them from Chingis and Khunbish first, so they’re just repaying the debt they already owe her. Secondly, no one’s good enough of a fighter to take an entire mob of enemies down by themselves—that’s simply unrealistic. There’s nothing wrong with needing a bit of help now and then.

Tani raises an eyebrow and asks if they’d have gone down into the bowels of the Wyverns’ Den if she hadn’t been the Cloud Snake's daughter. Evan chimes in that of course they would have—it’s the right thing to do! They shouldn’t need a reason to save someone in danger, just like Tani just did for them earlier! With just the faintest tinge of guilt in her voice, Tani remarks that she didn’t have either of them down as the reckless type, but clearly she was wrong!

However, Tani's expression as she turns away from Evan and Roland for the briefest of moments reveals that she is still clearly bothered by both of these issues. Unwilling to dwell on either of them for any longer than she has to, Tani quickly switches topics to the deal that Evan made with Batu. She proclaims that she never had a doubt that Evan and Roland would be able to cut a deal with him, and it’s Roland’s turn for a skeptical eyebrow raise.

> **Tani** : “See, I told you the Boss was a reasonable man! I knew he’d take a shine to you! You’ve got that same twinkle in your eye!”
> 
> **Evan** : “Wha—? I most certainly do not!”
> 
> **Tani** : “You most certainly do too! It’s like you can both…see something…something no one else can.”

( _Which is what exactly? Flimsy justification for Batu’s seemingly out-of-nowhere complete reversal on his opinion of Evan? Does this line ever get any sort of follow-up in the original game? What exactly is this thing that both Evan and Batu supposedly share? Besides the risk of developing a gambling addiction as seen in the next chapter?_

 _Once Batu eventually gets over his initial cynicism, he gets on board with Evan’s plans for benevolent world domination with enthusiasm. Perhaps the big similarity between Batu and Evan was meant to be a hopeful vision of the future or that they both see the world as it ought to be in its most idealized state. However, Batu’s hard life up to this point has drained him of this previous optimism. Meeting Evan and seeing his youthful idealism and determination reflected back in this young man was the rationale for Batu’s abrupt decision to let him and Roland live. This is the interpretation the reworking will be operating on. But these similarities alone won’t be enough to get Batu to leave his position among the Sky Pirates behind and follow a kingdomless king._ )

Roland (who has had a very trying eighteen plus hours in another world and nearly been killed at least four times by now) cuts in:

> **Roland** , with barely restrained sarcasm: “I was surprised that Batu didn’t throw us off a cliff to our deaths like he was threatening to before he “took a shine” to Evan.”
> 
> **Evan** , who clearly wasn’t ever planning to mention that part to her: “Roland!”
> 
> **Tani** , sheepishly: “Yeah...I guess I owe you an explanation about that, huh?”

Tani explains that the whole “throw you off the cliff and feed your carcass to the carrion” thing is (mostly) a ruse to get the victims to cough up all their valuables in the hopes of having their lives spared. The people who don’t necessarily have material goods can still give up state secrets and other valuable information that can be sold to people who would pay handsomely for it. Or, the marks could perhaps be escaped fugitives who would rather let themselves be turned in for the bounty and go to jail rather than die in a horrifically painful manner. (Even a quick death by the sword would be preferable to potentially waiting for potentially days to die of your injuries if you were to somehow survive the initial fall.) Either way, these attempts to barter something of value for their lives “convince” Batu to spare their lives “just this once” with a strict warning that if they ever come around Sky Pirate territory they’re dead meat. The Sky Pirates get paid, the trespassers never darken their door again, and no one has to die!

Most of the other Chiefs at the other bases would rather actually chuck intruders off the cliffs for real and not bother with such a charade. However, this little con that Batu himself created—with some help from Tani ( _the implication being that he doesn’t want his little girl growing up to be a cold-blooded murderer_ ) ensures some kind of monetary gain for the Sky Pirates they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. This prosperity is what has lead to the expansion of their base to the vast network of buildings across the canyons. It also helps to keep up the reputation of the “despicable Sky Pirates” and “the merciless Cloud Snake Batu” when the unfortunate victim makes it back to society, keeping other potential invaders away, especially those from the great nations with Kingmakers. (There isn’t even a real “Sky Pirate Code”: the Sky Pirate Chiefs have their own rules among their own separate bases which change very frequently.) Giving her father a “reputation” means that even non-Sky Pirates know his name, plus it gives him some infamy and respect among the Sky Pirates, even the ones in the other bases.

> **Tani** , bitterly: ‘ _But not all of them..._ ’

This ruse has worked on everyone so far, except for the wyverns who have nothing valuable to give up and refuse to leave their territory. This is why they’re the main enemies of the Sky Pirates rather than some rival tribes or larger kingdoms. The other Sky Pirate Chiefs were dismissive of Batu’s trickery until they started seeing the results of the con and the guilders it was generating for the Southern Base.

Evan asks if this means that they were never in any real danger this whole time, and Tani replies that Batu would never have thrown them off the cliff for real! (She can’t vouch for the rest of the sky pirates though...) Roland asks if he would hand them over to Mausinger for money, and Tani has to admit that yeah, he probably would have. But since they’ve saved his daughter, there’s no way he could do that now! And even if he wanted to, she wouldn’t let him, so there! Evan and Roland are only mostly placated by this.

Roland has to admit that the plan is pretty clever, asking Tani if another reason for Batu’s “trickery” is that there aren’t enough sky pirates to take on a proper army in a straight fight. She guesses that this is probably true, but none of the two closest great nations have ever tried to take over the mountains because of the rough terrain. But if Goldpaw and Ding Dong Dell sicced their Kingmakers on the Sky Pirates? They probably would get wiped out.

Evan agrees that the con is quite a mean trick, but it’s a lot better than outright murder and does seem to work well enough that no one notable has ever tried to invade Sky Pirate territory with an army (that he’s heard of). Plus, it means that the families of the victims of the attacks probably won’t try to seek revenge if nobody actually dies. Tani beams.

> **Tani** , excitedly: “See? That’s what I meant! That’s exactly the example that the Boss used to get the other Chiefs to understand his idea!”
> 
> **Evan** , mildly horrified: “So…you’re saying that Batu and I both have...a unique way of thinking?”
> 
> **Tani** , with a chuckle: “Hmm...well, something like that, I guess!”
> 
> **Evan** , reluctantly: “… I—I suppose…?“

( _Even though one of the main objectives of this reworking is to “make the characters’ actions have actual consequences”, this change is going to soften the edges on Batu a little earlier than in the original game for the sake of having the plot make sense without having to add more story to justify Evan and Roland's change of heart and thereby bloating the chapter and ruin the pacing. “The threat of death was only a trick” is a pretty cheap way out of having to write a better redemption arc for him, but at this point in the game, Batu’s only redeemable trait is that he’s a caring father. Yet him becoming a party member in the next chapter is met with no resistance from the two people he almost killed._

 _Also, if played straight, Batu’s choice to nearly kill off Evan and Roland unceremoniously after Tani had just reassured them that her dad was “a reasonable man” makes her look like a liar or an idiot. “Mercilessly tries to kill the protagonists” is not a great first impression for a character who’s going to become a main party member sooner rather than later, but that can be remedied by some well-done character development and writing. Unfortunately, Batu’s character is all over the place in this chapter of the original game, so the logical progression from his initial character to where he ends up just isn’t there, leaving the player confused as to why the main characters suddenly trust these people who tried to have them killed just a little while ago._ )

Switching gears again, Tani asks why Evan and Roland would want to go all the way up northeast to the King’s Cradle anyway. No one who’s ever gone there has ever come back, you know... The screen fades to black as Evan gives Tani a quick recap of what the player already knows (minus a few important details, which will be revealed later). Tani is impressed that a deposed prince who has never even set foot outside of his own kingdom until last night and whatever Roland is again (A “king, but not really” from another world? She’d accuse them of pulling her leg, but she can tell that Evan is a terrible liar and he’s telling the truth.) have made it this far on their own. She’s also confused as to what Evan’s plans are if he can gain the power of the Kingmaker on Cwsg-y-Ddraig. He might have a Kingmaker, but he doesn’t have any land to build a kingdom on. Or any people, for that matter! Two hobos with a Kingmaker doesn’t count as a kingdom! Why doesn’t Evan just grab the Kingmaker, raise an army, and take back Ding Dong Dell? It was supposed to be his kingdom anyway...

Roland, who has been low-key under the assumption that this actually was Evan’s eventual endgame, is somewhat surprised when Evan protests that this isn’t his goal. He promised a dear friend to “build a kingdom where everyone can live happily ever after”, and laying siege to Ding Ding Dell won’t make that happen. He’s just going to take things one step at a time and figure it out as he goes along...with help from Roland, of course. Roland chuckles and explains to Tani that he made a promise as well to keep Evan safe.

As they take the last couple of steps to the Southern Sky Pirates’ Base, Tani can feel a bit of jealously creeping into her heart. None of the other sky pirate kids have as much ambition as this lost almost-king trying to start a brand new kingdom from scratch. And what about her? Tani falls a few steps behind Evan and Roland as she considers how she'd been content to stay here and be another of her father's enforcers until perhaps he retires someday and passes the duties of Chief on to her. But would the rest of the base accept someone who had gotten kidnapped by the wyverns so easily? Is this even what she wants for her own future? Tani wishes that she had the resolve to set out on a journey like that to accomplish something as great...

...wait just a moment, what's stopping her from doing just that?

* * *

Batu’s reputation among the Sky Pirates has taken a hit in the reworking, but everyone from the Southern Base still loves Tani and is happy to see her return unharmed. The other sky pirate children run over to her excitedly, and a woman dressed in pink with dark green hair fusses over her. Batu is just as ecstatic underneath all that machismo, but he keeps up the stoic facade since all the other Sky Pirate leaders are still hanging around. The other Chiefs and Council Representatives are less thrilled, but that has less to do with Tani herself rather than her father’s actions.

Despite the grumbling of the other leaders, Batu upholds his deal with Evan and gives him permission to pass through their land to the king’s cradle unharmed (but just this once). With mild amusement, Batu starts to explain Evan’s plans for benevolent world dominance to his daughter but Tani’s already heard the story and decided to insert herself into the narrative. She announces that she’s going to upgrade herself to Main Party Member status; Evan and Roland are given no choice in the matter. They’re taken aback and so is Batu.

Tani’s reason for joining up in the reworking will be that this incident in the Wyverns’ Den has made her realize that she desperately wants to step out of her father’s shadow and strike out on her own, blazing her own trail and pursuing her own dreams. If Evan, someone her own age, can be working towards something as epic and impossible as uniting the world in peace on his own (plus Roland), why can’t she be as capable of something that great too? Being forced to play the damsel in distress role was more torture for Tani than if she had actually been tortured. The worst part was having to be nothing but a bartering chip for the wyverns, her father, and Evan and Roland to argue over. She should have been able to rescue herself, not wait for some strangers or her dad to do it for her!

Of course she doesn’t say all of this out loud. Her answer to Batu asking why she wants to go with Evan and Roland in the reworking is that the ka-tet are both naive to the ways of this world, and they need someone with street smarts like her or their quest is going to end very badly. Over Evan and Roland’s objections, she points out that they both fell for the “Cloud Snake” ruse hook, line, and sinker. Neither of them have a good retort for that, but their annoyance is tempered when Tani points out that with her in the party, they can pass through the Southern Sky Pirates base whenever they please!

The Sky Pirate leaders start their disapproving murmuring again and Batu glares at his daughter. The rest of the sky pirates seem uneasy, but Khunbish shouts something encouraging to Tani until he also gets glared down by Batu. The man himself is clearly not happy with this development but knows his independent and headstrong daughter well enough to not even try and stop her.

Once Tani’s officially in the party, Evan can finally talk to most of the Sky Pirate NPCs (except the other leaders, who still ignore him) but this doesn’t mean that they have to be nice to him. The gist of their comments towards Evan range from “Wow, I can’t believe you’re not dead!” to “You may have slain some wyverns but you don’t look much like king material to me, boy”, although some like Gerel and Chingis just thank him for coming to Tani’s rescue. Tani and Khunbish rev up the engines on their sky-skimmers, Batu acts like the stereotypical overprotective father meeting his daughter’s suitor before their very first date as he demands that Evan get Tani back ~~before midnight~~ unharmed, and the ka-tet finally flies off to the King’s Cradle.

( _Problem Number Seven - The animated cutscene with Tani, Evan, Roland, and Khunbish flying towards the Cradle of Light is very pretty and well-animated, but where are they exactly? There is no location with the huge raised lakes, dense forests by the edge of the water, and a ton of waterfalls with what might possibly be a cavern system underneath anywhere on the World Map. There is no area between the Sky Pirates’ Base and Cwsg-y-Ddraig that remotely resembles this landscape in the final version of the game. The closest landscape with the high, verdant planes and large bodies of freshwater would be in the opposite direction of the route the ka-tet would take to get to the Cradle of Light._

  
What a beautiful place that doesn’t actually appear anywhere on the world map!

_The whole northern tip of the continent past the Sky Pirates’ Base is devoid of any content, aside from Cwsg-y-Ddraig and Far-flung Cape in the easternmost corner. If it was going to be a visitable location in the game at some point, it got cut for time and/or budget but the animated cutscene had already been completed, so that was left in. In the reworking, the Waterfall Valley is now visible on the world map somewhere in the northern part of the continent, inaccessible by boat and Zippelin until the postgame._ )

* * *

**3:45 pm approx., The Cradle of Light, Cwsg-y-Ddraig, Day One**

The ka-tet makes it to the Cradle of Light without further incident, and the Trials begin. ( _I don’t see what use being able to solve floor puzzles will have for a future king, but then again I don’t see the application of that skill for a future wizard either. At least the Trial of Knowledge wasn’t as difficult as the Test of Friendship from_ White Witch.)

In between Evan passing the Trial of Knowledge and beginning the Trial of Strength, there’s a cutscene with Roland and Tani as they wait for Evan to attain his Kingmaker back in the cradle. Roland asks why none of the sky pirates ever tried to pass the Kingmaker’s trials if they’ve been able to fly here to Cwsg-y-Ddraig so easily all this time. Tani replies that this would first require the Sky Pirates to chose a single leader among all the Chiefs and Council Representatives, and that would be difficult because everyone would just declare themselves the king and the resulting power struggle would turn into a bloodbath. Plus, the Sky Pirates don’t really need a king; the individual bases are fiercely independent and the Sky Pirate Council only convenes for serious situations so its members don’t have much real power most of the time.

The booming voice of the statue announces that Evan has just passed the Trial of Knowledge. Tani tries to ask the statue how many more trials Evan has left, but it doesn’t answer her. Roland’s next question is why no one else has tried to claim this Kingmaker before Evan. Tani recalls hearing that the last attempt was made before she was even born, so she reckons that the Trials must be so hard that everyone gives up. But Roland remembers one of the other Chiefs claiming that an entire army disappeared without a trace after their king began the Trials...

After Evan has passed the first two Trials, there is one last surprise in store. Roland and Tani are summoned after the Trial of Strength ends, thinking along with Evan that it’s all over. However…

> **Voice of the Statue** : “EVAN PETTIWHISKER TILDRUM. THOU HAST PROVEN THYSELF WORTHY. A KINGMAKER SHALL BE THINE…
> 
> ...ONCE THOU HAST CHOSEN A SACRIFICE AMOUNG THINE COMPANIONS IN EXCHANGE FOR THIS POWER.”
> 
> **Evan, Roland, and Tani** : “What?!”

The ka-tet silently weights their options for a few minutes. Seeing no other way forward, Roland (with great reluctance) volunteers himself because not only is Tani still a child (and he’d be a monster if he were to let her die in his place) but also Batu would actually kill them anyway if something happened her. Distressed, Tani protests that there must be some kind of trick here (while not really sounding convinced of it herself). She then screams at the statue that this is an awful thing to do to someone who just wanted to fulfill a promise to a dear friend! Does the spirit within the statue enjoy making people give up someone they love for some kind of sick thrill? Even the Sky Pirates at their worst aren’t as cruel!

And Evan? Evan point blank refuses.

> **Evan** , resolutely: “If the only way to get a Kingmaker is to sacrifice one of my friends, then...then I’ll just become a king without a Kingmaker! If the Sky Pirates can exist without a Kingmaker and if people in Roland’s world don’t need one in order to rule a country, then why shouldn’t I be able to build a kingdom where everyone can live happily ever after without one as well? I refuse to sacrifice a friend just for power; I could never live with myself afterwards! I won’t be that sort of king! I won’t!”
> 
> **Voice of the Statue** : “…
> 
> ...EVAN PETTIWHISKER TILDRUM, YOU HAVE PASSED THE TRIAL OF HEART.”

The ka-tet collectively breathes a sigh of relief as the magic circle forms the arena. With a loud pop, Lofty makes his grand entrance and joins the ka-tet. The Important Stick becomes useful, and Evan’s Kingsbond is formed. ( _It’s kind of ironic that Drippy was an exposition machine, but Lofty can’t even be bothered to explain how the Tactic Tweaker works._ ) As a bonus, Lofty gives Evan the Travel and Vacate spells. In the reworking, these and certain other returning magic spells from _Wrath of the White Witch_ are known in this game as the Old Magic. (Though that is actually a misnomer and the player won’t find out why for a _very_ long time.) [ **Gameplay Change** : In the reworking, the Tactic Tweaker tutorial will be saved for the next chapter when the player can actually make use of it.]

Also at some point early in the next chapter, Roland is going to ask Lofty what the hell that whole “Sacrificial Third Trial” nonsense was all about. Lofty will reply that he just wanted to make sure that the ruler he was bound to for a lifetime wasn’t some heartless monster who only craved power or something, but more Welsh-ly. The Third Trial was just as much of a Trial of Heart as it was a Trial of Common Sense.

Plus, these things usually come in sets of three...

* * *

**6:30pm approx., Southern Sky Pirates’ Base, Day One**

The sun has already begun to set as the ka-tet returns to the Southern Base. Batu’s happy that everyone (but mostly Tani) made it back in one piece. Be that as it may, neither he nor most of the other Sky Pirates are too impressed with Evan’s fun-sized Kingmaker. (And Lofty is quick to retort that he’s not impressed with them either. And if they want to insult his height, they outta come down and say it to his face, mun!) On the other hand, their opinions on Evan and Roland have certainly improved, but not to the extent that they’re willing to bend the knee to Evan (in his current state). One evening of revelry won’t be enough for these battle-hardened ruffians and proud nomads to accept an otherwise total stranger (the same age as the young daughter of one of their Chiefs!) as their new absolute ruler no matter how much of a fine, polite young man he may be.

However, the Sky Pirates are also the type of people who’ll take any excuse for a party. So when Batu calls for a feast to celebrate the two heroes who slew the leader of the wyverns and rescued his daughter, nobody objects. Roland's closing remarks for the chapter take place during the big feast, as morning won’t break until the beginning of Chapter Three in the reworking.

> **Roland** : ‘ _When they’re not trying to kill you, these Sky Pirates sure know how to party. I don’t think I’ve eaten this much since that campaign fundraiser potluck. At least the drinks are better here, and I’m sure if Evan and I cover as much ground tomorrow as we did today, I can burn off any extra pounds before one of our campaign managers can scold me for it…_
> 
> _If I ever make it back to my world, that is…_
> 
> _What a day. At first, I had my doubts that Evan and I would be able to make it through to the evening; actually getting anywhere in terms of starting a whole new kingdom was out of the question. But clearly I underestimated the kid: he’s got the charisma and determination of a natural-born leader. And now he’s got an actual symbol of authority with Lofty, although after Evan’s explanation I did expect something called a Kingmaker to be a bit more impressive. I thought they were supposed to have the power of an entire army, but I don’t think Lofty would be able to take on a single wyvern by himself. Maybe it really is more of a tradition or symbolic thing? Or maybe Kingmakers grow larger when a kingdom grows larger?_
> 
> _Then again, I’ve never seen another Kingmaker so it’s not like I have some basis of comparison..._
> 
> _I really do think that Evan has the potential to become a great leader, he just needs a bit of coaching. Maybe that’s truly why I was brought to this world? I could’ve used a whole lot of guidance myself at his age, I didn't get that opportunity until much later myself. But this whole “becoming king of the world to stop all wars” thing though…_
> 
> _Well, future king or not, he’s still just a kid after all. It’s fine to let him have his fanciful dreams…_ ’

The second Ferdinand dream sequence is still mostly the same, with a few minor dialogue changes. Evan tells Ferdinand that he made some new friends, but he’s still a bit wary of the other sky pirates. Ferdinand advises him to give it time, it takes different people different amounts of time and familiarity to become friends. But soon enough, Evan won’t even be able to count all of the people he considers friends, just you wait! When Ferdinand tells Evan that he needs to remember everything that he'll be hearing from the people he meets as it will make him a better king, he also adds that Evan can learn just as much from the failures of himself and others as he can from success.

All that follows after this cutscene in the original game will be removed and the chapter will officially end with Ferdinand. ( _Since those sequences are explicitly dreams, it makes sense to end the chapter at night so all of the ending scenes feel like they are in somewhat chronological order_.)


	6. Ch.3.1 - Manifest, Destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which tutorials abound and the Heartlands are explicitly **not** free real estate.

## Chapter Three: Something Old, Something Borrowed (Part One)

**7am, Lower Landing Platform, Southern Sky Pirates’ Base, Day Two**

Morning arrives in a very cinematic fashion, heralding in a brand new day and a brand new chapter. ( _Chapter Two is the last time that a single chapter will last the span of one in-game day._ ) The first rays of sunlight catch Evan and Tani’s attention and they rush over together to the edge of the landing platform. The morning light shines brightly on their faces as they look outwards towards the horizon, hopeful in the face of the challenges that a new day brings.

Further back in the last lingering shadows of the evening before the dawn fully breaks, Roland and Batu aren’t as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as the kids. In fact, they’re both probably nursing some pretty wicked hangovers. They acknowledge each other with curt nods before getting started on their preparations for the day. Batu may have developed a soft spot for Evan, but he’s not sure about Roland yet. There’s something odd about him, but he can’t put his finger on what that is yet... Likewise, Roland still hasn’t totally forgiven Batu for nearly killing him and Evan the previous day, directly or indirectly by dragging them back to Ding Dong Dell and Mausinger’s clutches (even if it was all a ruse like Tani said). ( _There’s a little bit of that tension in the original opening scene for this chapter, but the conflict between these two only seems to exist when the plot needs it to in the original game._ )

The children, moving towards the light of a bright future. The adults, stuck in the darkness of the past. It’s all very symbolic and full of foreshadowing in that cheesy way the JRPGs can get sometimes. End opening chapter cutscene.

* * *

A little bit later on in the morning, Roland and Evan are pouring over a more detailed map of the surrounding area that they've borrowed from Gerel, searching for a place to build a new kingdom with Lofty. Since he doesn’t have to worry about moving all the sky pirates to Evan’s nonexistent kingdom in the reworking, Batu is instead performing his best “father trying one last time to convince his daughter not to move out for college” impression on Tani, who remains unmoved by his arguments. Batu still doesn’t understand just what it is about this crazy kid that’s making her want to leave everything behind and run off into the wilderness on a fool’s errand. Tani scoffs that she can’t believe that Batu doesn’t see it yet. Batu asks what “it” is, but Tani’s not telling. She does cheekily hint that it’s something that both Batu and Evan share. Frustrated, Batu grumbles that he doesn’t have time for riddles (What in the world could he and the boy possibly have in common? Well, aside from that thing he hasn’t told Tani about yet...) and stalks off.

Exasperated, Tani heads over to the rest of the ka-tet to see if they’ve chosen a location for Evan’s new kingdom yet. ( _Batu’s suggestion of taking over an existing village to start off Evan’s new kingdom doesn’t really work with his new backstory in the reworking, so that line gets cut._ ) She’s a bit miffed when she finds that they’re still deliberating on where to go. They’ve been at this for half an hour now, how haven’t they just picked something already? Roland explains the importance of building in the right location: somewhere with easy access to resources and protection from invaders.

In the reworking, it’s Evan who suggests building the kingdom in the Heartlands. It’s far enough away from any of the other major nations that they wouldn’t bother to haul their armies all the way out there and try to invade. The Heartlands are miles of untamed grassland, and that means a good opportunity for farming. There’s also easy access to the sea, large rivers, and a massive forest not too far away. Tani is impressed that Evan has thought this all through, but Evan protests that he can’t take all the credit; he learned most of this stuff from Nella’s lessons and Roland gave him the idea to build as far away from the other big nations as possible. (Lofty pipes up that he helped as well!)

Since Evan left out Nella in his recap of events during the previous chapter, Tani is about to ask who that is when Roland interrupts. He reminds Evan that even though the Heartlands may be far from the major nations, there still might be smaller groups of people living in or around that area. The Sky Pirates’ Bases aren’t marked on their map, after all. Batu boasts that no fancy-pants map makers would be able to find all of the Sky Pirates’ Bases as he walks over, finally having come to terms with Tani’s imminent departure (or so it seems). Roland offhandedly informs Batu that the word he’s looking for is “cartographer”. Batu scowls back at him, annoyed at the unnecessary correction.

Since Batu’s the most likely person to know the lay of the land on the other side of the mountains, Evan asks him if there are any other people in proximity to the proposed location for his new kingdom. Batu explains that the large forest to the south belongs to Niall and his tribe of Greenlings, who are typically peaceful folk as long as they are left alone. Of course, the Southern Sky Pirates’ Base is just half a day's walk away (if Tani ever gets a bit homesick, _ahem_ ). Otherwise, the Heartlands are empty and ready for the taking!

> **Tani** , crossing her arms: “What about the wandering gangs of bandits that have camps scattered throughout the area?”
> 
> **Batu** , dismissively: “What about th’ bandits? Ye jus’ give their sorry hides a good thrashin’ an’ show ‘em who’s boss, and they’ll not bother ye again!”

Evan protests that he doesn’t want to kick out someone if they’re already living there. Batu dismisses his concerns, claiming that it’s no more than the stealing, murderous thugs deserve! Roland raises an eyebrow and comments that as a sky pirate, Batu’s not really in a position to judge people’s morals. Batu retorts that the Sky Pirates have morals, they don’t attack people indiscriminately! Unlike the bandits, who will rob and kill anything with a pulse with no regard for whether they can defend themselves or not...

Sensing emotional baggage he doesn't care about enough to deal with right now, Roland changes the topic and asks how they’re supposed to clear all these bandits off the plains then. They don’t exactly have an army with them, and the sight and size of Evan’s new Kingmaker won’t exactly send them running for the hills... (Cue indignant Welsh noises from Lofty.) Batu scoffs that they don’t need an army; a few dozen well-armed sky pirates ought to clear the land in a few hours. He _supposes_ he can spare a couple of men for a few days, just to make sure that his daughter isn’t going to be stuck fighting bandits for a week straight. And in addition to that...

Batu isn’t going to “officially” join the party until the end of the chapter, so he’s “temporarily” joining the ka-tet ( _similar to Leander and Bracken in their introductory chapters_ ), just until they can get some fortified land and a roof over their heads. He grumbles that he’s only going so that they don’t get immediately slaughtered by bandits the second they leave Sky Pirate territory, but:

> **Chingis** , arriving with Khunbish: “Aww, you’re jus’ sayin’ that cuz ye’re worried about Mistress Tani.”

Batu growls at him in response. Tani rolls her eyes fondly; talking to her after the cutscene reveals that she knew her father would try to find some pretext to tag along on the adventure, and she's resolved not to be annoyed with his presence unless he becomes an obstacle to her journey of self-discovery. Evan’s happy to have as much help as they can get at this point. Roland on the other hand has more mixed feelings about this, but if it’s only going to be a temporary situation...

It would be irresponsible of Batu to just leave his people without appointing someone else to be a Chief in his place, so he looks around for the nameless Veteran Pirate NPC from Chapter Two and gives him a temporary promotion to Acting Chief. In the reworking, he is called Gökhan[[1](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908/chapters/67182973#note1)]. The other sky pirates are mostly pleased with this arrangement when Batu announces it out loud to everyone present, and Gökhan himself is grateful.

  
Gökhan is the bloke in the middle with the big beard and red eye-markings.

Khunbish is a bit salty at being passed over for a promotion, albeit a temporary one, but he and Chingis have been also “temporarily” “volunteered” to go with Batu to help clear out all the bandits occupying the site of the future kingdom. They’re both pretty stoked about getting to do some real fighting for once without getting yelled at by Tani and/or Batu for it. Off to the side, Roland raises an eyebrow at the news that the two sky pirates with previously-mentioned loyalty issues and itchy trigger fingers are now coming along as well. Khunbish makes a comment about making it up to Evan and Roland for the “incident” that occurred the previous day. (Chingis at least manages to make a direct and proper apology.) Evan is ready to let bygones be bygones, but Roland is still clearly but quietly holding a grudge.

So that makes Gerel the first “official” citizen of future Evermore as she approaches and asks to join the expedition. ( _Her entry in the Citizens Almanac states that she’s got an aversion to fighting, so it makes sense that she’d jump at the chance to be part of a more potentially peaceful community. Also, it must be hard to expand your business in a neighborhood where potential new customers keep getting chucked off cliffs by the local authorities or robbed of any valuables before they can spend any money on your wares. The Almanac also mentions that Tani considers her to be a big sister-figure, so her secondary reason for joining Evan’s new kingdom would be to keep an eye on Tani since Batu’s only going to be there “temporarily”._ ) Tani’s happy that Gerel has decided to come along after begging her to go with them last night during the feast. Evan and Roland (but mostly Roland) are happy to have a sky pirate who hasn’t tried to kill them coming along on this expedition. However, she’s not alone.

[ **Gameplay Change** : Due to the changes made to the Kingdom Building system later on in the game, a few more citizens will be needed in Evermore at the start of Chapter Four.] Gerel now has a younger sister named Sukhon[[2](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908/chapters/67182973#note2)], who will also be joining the expedition party.

  
Sukhon is the lady in the purple dress, although the reworking version of her will have taller boots so that she and Tani aren’t sharing shoes. ( _This sky pirate lady moves to the entrance to Cloudcoil Canyon in Chapter Four as part of the postgame Sin-Gul sidequest. The developers will just have to use a different character model for this sidequest-relevant NPC in the reworking._ )

Sukhon is a bit less of a pacifist than Gerel, so she can aid in the fighting ( _hypothetically anyway, she doesn’t have a part in the Skirmish mini-game_ ). Also unlike her sister, she gets along with animals a lot better than people. Unfortunately for her, Cloudcoil Canyon doesn’t have a whole lot of animals who don’t want to kill you. So Gerel hopes that Evan’s new kingdom will have better opportunities for her sister as well.

[ **Gameplay Change** : In the Kingdom Building system, Sukhon will be the citizen with the “Animal Magnetism” trait instead of Chingis. He’ll have the same trait as Khunbish, “Sky Savvy”, instead. Because why would Sky Pirate Chief Batu make Chingis one of his right-hand men if his talents were more geared towards agrarian work than sky pirating? Plus, having two citizens proficient in working in the Explorer's Guild at the start of the next chapter encourages the player to complete that research earlier, most of which is very helpful (such as increasing the player's chances of finding rarer items and the ability to walk faster). The fact that there is now an extra Evermore citizen floating around will be dealt with later in the reworking.]

A bunch of other random sky pirates are also coming along as well (namely an assortment of Khunbish and Chingis’s forces for the Skrimish, plus some others who’ve decided to leave for various reasons such as “getting tired of the Sky Pirate life and wanting a career change” or just to see if Evan manages to accomplish the whole “rule the world” thing after all. However, they don’t count as official recruit-able citizens so the developers don't have to bother giving them names.

( _If the player talks to everyone around the base at this point in the original game, a good number of them are talking about giving up Sky Pirating altogether whether or not they plan on going to Evermore. This implies that it’s not taboo to leave the Sky Pirate culture if they’re discussing this openly, therefore people can probably join the Sky Pirates just as easily as they can leave them. An organization like this can’t really be too picky about who joins if people can just leave because they want to, they wouldn’t be able to maintain their numbers enough to survive on their own otherwise._ )

When taking to the Sky Pirate NPCs around the base in the reworking, they mostly have heartfelt farewells for Tani (with reminders that if the kid’s kingdom flops, she’s always welcome back here!). If they address Evan and Roland at all, it’s to express doubt that they’ll manage to survive on their own once Batu and his men return to the base (and/or to give them supplies if the player lost that fight in the previous chapter).

* * *

In the reworking, the ka-tet leaving the Sky Pirates’ Base is an actual, proper cutscene. As they and the sky pirates accompanying them head out, the other occupants of the base arrive to give Tani and the sisters their final goodbyes. A lot of the other sky pirate kids cling onto Tani and beg her not to go, but she shakes them off gently (for a sky pirate) and tells them that she’ll try to write to them regularly or something!

> **Child Sky Pirate NPC 1** , distraught: *sniff* “But... we can’t read!”

As Tani steps across the threshold of the base, she breaks out into a huge grin at the thought of finally going off on a huge, epic adventure! If only there were some way of documenting this momentous occasion in a manner that could be seen by loads of people forever! ( _She won’t discover the Leafbook Viewer among the ka-tet’s possessions until after the Skirmish against Tyran._ ) Swept up in the excitement, she grabs Evan’s hand and half drags him across the rope bridge. Her enthusiasm is catching, and they’re both laughing and cheering as they race down the path with the adults (and Lofty) not far behind.

Roland has a snarky remark about how it looks like Tani couldn’t wait to leave this place behind. However, he glances over and spots Batu having a Dad Moment, tears welling in his eyes as he watches his baby bird leaving the nest to fly off into the open sky. So Roland bites his tongue and continues on without comment.

Despite the cutscene implying that they walked further, the game resumes with the ka-tet at the end of the rope bridge, because there is one more battle tutorial to get through before the tutorial Skirmish occurs. The ka-tet has only taken a few steps away from the base when Lofty remembers that he has another present for Evan. [ **Gameplay Change** : A proper tutorial for the Tactic Tweaker occurs here in the reworking, at the beginning of a chapter rather than the end—when the player is less likely to skip it in order to get to the Save Screen.]

While the ka-tet is distracted by the strange object, a monster sneaks up on them, triggering a tutorial for a new [ **Gameplay Change** : Tani and Batu’s new charged ranged attacks. In the original game, the charged range attack of the two bow users is a three-point scattershot, which is pretty useless in most fights. It doesn’t have the homing properties of Evan and Leander’s charged multi-projectile ranged attack or the wide range of Roland and Bracken’s charged single laser beam attack. So if Tani and Batu aren’t right up in the enemy’s face, it’s going to be difficult lining up all the shots so that they hit something. In the reworking, Tani and Batu’s charged range attack is an over-the-shoulder third-person shooter mode in which the player has to manually aim and charge up a single shot for massive damage if done correctly. (Their basic ranged attack stays the same.) The aiming is done with the left stick and the charging with the right. (The PC version will have its own control scheme for the keyboard and mouse.)

When using this attack, the character can’t move during this mode until the shot has been fired. So the player is trading their defensive options for the chance to hit harder from a distance. It’s something along the lines of [Viola from Eternal Sonata’s ranged bow attacks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atuo5u3b0p4&feature=youtu.be&t=782), to take an example from another JRPG. The tutorial fight is comprised of six zapwings, agile flying type enemies who this battle mechanic is well-suited to counter. It also works well on the bosses who like to move well out of range of melee attacks, like Longfang and Brineskimmer.]

( _The Martial Methods of the DLCs gave the base game some combat diversity that it was previously lacking, so changing Tani and Batu’s (and the rest of the ka-tet’s later on) charged range attacks here will add more of that variety in attack options. It also gives the player incentive to use different player characters for different fights instead of just sticking to Evan and Roland (because there will be fights in the reworking in which neither of them are present)._ )

Once the tutorial is over, the rest of the ka-tet is impressed by Tani and Batu’s archery skills. Batu boasts that he’s the most powerful archer in Cloudcoil Canyon; he doesn’t need a crossbow like the other sky pirates because he can do more damage with an arrow on his own! Tani quips that while he might be the strongest, she’s the most accurate shot and that’s what really counts! [ **Gameplay Change** : This is reflected in their respective attacks. Batu's charged attack is a lot harder to aim, but hits weak spots for more damage. Tani can hit weak spots more easily, but won’t deal as much damage.]

On their way down to the east end of the canyon, Evan has a question for Batu: how long ago was the conflict between the Sky Pirates and Ding Dong Dell? He explains that he’s never heard of a war between the two groups, and Batu scoffs that for the Dellians it was probably never considered important enough to be considered a war. They’d probably considered the sky-skimmers they shot down to be nuisances at best, target practice at worst. If Evan must know, their last fly-over of Ding Dong Dell resulting in casualties happened about two months back.

> **Evan** : “...I see.”
> 
> **Evan** : ‘ _Two months back...so that was still when Father was king...And I just never knew..._ ’

Annoyed, Batu barks at Evan to not get all guilty on him; feeling back about something he didn’t even know about won’t bring the people who died back! Besides, from what Evan and their spies have said, Mausinger might be even worse...

* * *

The ka-tet finally reach the Rumbly Ruins and thus the Skirmish mini game tutorial. In the reworking, Batu insists on Evan leading the troops because it’s his kingdom that they’re going to be fighting for here. Tani offers to help, but Batu informs her that this is something Evan’s got to do himself. At the same time, he raises an eyebrow when Roland doesn’t even offer to help. Roland returns the look, claiming that the Sky Pirates are Batu’s men and Evan needs the battle experience if he wants to be king of the world, so he’ll wait on the sidelines with Tani.

[ **Gameplay Change** : The Skirmish mini-game needs to crib the best ideas from other Real-Time Strategy games in order to make it less braindead and more engaging. The Skirmishes are already an important part of the endgame in the fight with the Horned One, so they are going to be integrated into the story more in the reworking since they are Batu’s primary contribution to Evan’s development as the leader of a nation. The Skirmishes don't need to be as mechanically complex as a Starcraft, Age of Empires, or Fire Emblem title, but the mechanic is going to need some changes to make it less of a total chore to do.]

In the reworking, Batu doesn’t berate Tyran for not having a Kingmaker and calling himself a king, but he does laugh down the idea of bandits having their own country. You need diplomacy and stuff to run a proper country, and all the bandits are good for is looting and murder! On the sidelines of the fight (in a cutscene midway through the skirmish), Roland remarks that Batu seems to really have it out for the bandits. Tani explains that her father has always hated the bandits that live in this region, but she admits that she's never been able to get a concrete reason as to why out of Batu.

Evan and his future subjects win the fight and proceed to kick out all the people who are already living on that land, displacing them from their homes and forcing them to rebuild their lives somewhere else. It’s totally fine though, they’re just bandits and thugs without a Kingmaker! That’s just standard imperialistic conquest! They attacked first, and that makes the ka-tet leaving them homeless morally justifiable for some reason! ( _Evan will eventually have to face the implications of this decision, but not for a few chapters._ ) With Tryan’s crew driven out (and him barely holding back tears while swearing vengeance as he goes), the reworking skips over the few seconds of walking to get right to the short cutscene plays before the tents are pitched at the future site of Evermore.

In the reworking, the initial impressions of the location for the future new kingdom are a bit more mixed. Evan wants to build close to the main river, but Batu convinces him to stick to one of the smaller tributaries because the bigger rivers are deep enough to sail multiple boats through, and that means potential pirate attacks. (Said river running through Evermore is now seen on the overworld map in the reworking for the sake of consistency.) Roland expresses surprise that this world has sky pirates and regular pirates. Lofty is confused by this; of course there are different types of pirates, why wouldn’t there be? Tani and Khunbish are a bit concerned that the area is so flat; how are they supposed to guard against aerial attacks or even launch a sky-skimmer? The flatness of the land suits Sukhon and Chingis just fine: she’d be able to keep an eye out on any future animals she raises, and he’s enjoying the cool, gentle breeze out here rather than the roaring winds in the canyon. Gerel has finally realized that this place is out in the middle of nowhere; how is she supposed to grow her business? But this is the spot that Evan has chosen, so this is where they’ll start unpacking.

Speaking of the tents, they don’t really match the style of the Sky Pirates, do they? How did they get them commissioned in the style of future Evermore so quickly? Talking to Gerel later in the camp will reveal that they’re kinda... stolen. But what else do you expect from Sky Pirates?

This is certainly a better setup than what Evan and Roland had two nights ago in Hideaway Hollow at least, but everyone is eager to start getting some proper buildings up. With no massive chain hardware stores in this world—or at least in the immediate vicinity—Roland asks about that forest down south that Batu mentioned earlier. Batu says that he’s had dealings with Niall in the past on behalf of the Sky Pirates (there aren’t a whole lot of trees in Cloudcoil Canyon) and he drives a hard bargain, but there’s no better wood to be found around this part of the world. Tani seconds this; her dad has dragged her to Niall’s forest on many “business trips”, but she didn’t mind so much because the forest is so beautiful. The greenlings have raised every tree in that forest from saplings, and the plants in the forest glow with magical energy due to their constant ministrations. So they’re not going to be giving out freebies to anyone who asks.

Instead of polite confusion, Batu is going to scoff at Roland’s line about making deals with difficult customers “in [his] time” instead. He points out that Roland’s making himself sound like an old man when he’s got to be at least ten years younger than Batu. Roland deflects effortlessly (equal parts frustrated and amused that they’re back to making deals without anything of value to actually barter with), and the ka-tet head off to the Forest of Niall.

[ **Gameplay Change** : In the original game, there’s a short cutscene on the way to the Forest of Niall in which Tani explains the tainted monster sidequests. The reworking will be making a lot of changes to the sidequests in order to make the players more invested in building up Evermore, and the Tainted Monster bounties will be tied to a specific mechanic in the Kingdom Building minigame. So those will be introduced in Chapter Four instead.]

Instead, there will be another dialogue in which the sky pirates and Lofty attempt to get more information about Roland and this “other world” that he comes from, with Roland giving vague answers to all of their questions. Tani and Lofty are having fun asking the wildest questions they can think of (although Lofty slips in a legitimate question every now and then), but Batu is growing mildly frustrated as he keeps getting stonewalled. He opened up his home to Roland and Evan (you know, after threatening them...), and now Roland won’t even give him some clear answers to basic questions? Rude.

* * *

This game is so pretty, and the Forest of Niall and surrounding area are some of the prettiest areas. Even the notices saying that the forest now belongs to the Grand High Roller of Goldpaw are aesthetically pleasing... unless you happen to live in the forest. [ **Gameplay Change** : Unless the player walked all the way back to Cloudcoil Canyon somehow at the beginning of this chapter, this is where they would get the Tripdoor tutorial.]

Floyd’s state of panic is a reasonable reaction to fleeing for his life during the coup and then getting lost in a strange forest. However, his pleas to let Niall make him his personal chef make no sense. Does it look like the forest contains anything resembling a well-stocked kitchen? The Greenlings are probably a society of foragers, how would Floyd bake them bread without an oven? Evan convinces his fellow grimalkin to come to a place that has—er, will have an actual kitchen someday and Evermore acquires a baker. (Because really Floyd? A chef that can only bake bread and nothing else? That’s just a baker, don’t try to oversell yourself.) The Greenlings must be total pushovers who have trouble saying no to anyone because this simple act of getting Floyd to bugger off is enough for the ka-tet to gain an audience with Niall himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 Means “sky leader” in Turkish according to [Behind the Name](https://www.behindthename.com/name/go12khan). [ [return to text](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908/chapters/67182973#return1) ]  
> 2 Means “fragrance” in Thai according to [Behind the Name](https://www.behindthename.com/name/sukhon), ironic considering that people in Evermore will complain that she smells like she hasn’t showered in a decade. [ [return to text](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908/chapters/67182973#return2) ]


	7. Ch.3.2 - The Best That I Can Do is Pray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [They call you Lady Luck,  
>  But there is room for doubt,  
>  At times you have a very un-ladylike way of running out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUddYld-J1w)

## Chapter Three: Something Old, Something Borrowed (Part Two)

( _It’s odd that Niall gets a custom animated introduction (which must have taken a lot of time and resources), seeing as he stops being important after Chapter Five or so in the original game. He is a leader of a distinct group like everyone else who gets an animated intro, but the Greenlings as a species never become major players and Niall leaves for Evermore by the end of the chapter anyway. In the reworking, Niall will have more to do later in the story due to the ka-tet lacking a personal connection to Goldpaw in the same way that their members are connected to the other three great nations._ )

Crankily, Niall yells at his underlings outside for just letting these randos walk into his private sanctum without even trying to stop them...until he recognizes Batu and Tani. ( _They talk about him with some familiarity at the campsite, so they must have met a couple of times at least._ ) The sky pirates convince him to at least hear Evan out, and the screen fades to black for an offscreen exposition dump.

Initially, Niall doesn’t even try to hide the suspicion in his voice as he assumes that Evan’s sob story is some kind of Sky Pirate trick. He admonishes Batu for resorting to skullduggery to cheat him and tells him to do better if he wants more timber for his base. Batu retorts that this isn’t a trick and Evan is the one making this request, not him! Niall remains skeptical, even as Evan continues to insist that he is a king and Roland backs him up, motioning to Evan’s Kingmaker as proof.

( _Even though Lofty is pretty weird looking for a Kingmaker, Niall’s reaction to him seems a little overblown in the original game. One would expect a more dismissive reaction to such a minuscule and non-threatening Kingmaker, not leaping back in alarm, as seen here_ :

  
Calm down, my dude, it’s just a fairy. Although fairies aren’t from this world...

_Perhaps the fact that Niall’s next line isn’t “Oy, what even is that hideous thing!?” (but more Scottish) means that he’s seen a fairy before? That’s the interpretation the reworking will be going with, but how Niall has come across a being from another world before won't be revealed for a few chapters._ ) Since Niall has seen a fairy before and knows that they aren’t exactly from here, Lofty’s presence actually helps make Evan’s case a bit in the reworking. But Evan’s still lacking the _je ne sais quoi_ that Niall looks for in a king, so he’s still unwilling to believe Evan until Tani angrily sets the record straight.

For someone Batu described as an “incurable old skinflint”, Niall sure is quick to pivot to sympathy after hearing Evan’s tragic backstory. He’d like to help... but he kind of lost his forest to the Grand High Roller of Goldpaw, Master Pugnacius. Batu asks why Niall would do something so foolhardy since the games in Goldpaw are said to be rigged in favor of the house to the point of blatant cheating. Niall grumbles that he thought he and Pugnacius were friends and that Pugnacius wouldn’t stoop to that kind of trickery. Batu scoffs that trickery and exploitation are about all those Goldpaw types are good for.

> **Evan and Roland** , looking at two of the people who tried to take them for a ride in the previous chapter: “...”
> 
> **Batu** , defensively: “Oi, tha’s different! We Sky Pirates are ‘onest about our ways, whereas the fancy-dress dogs of Goldpaw will try an’ pretend that they’re a _respectable_ bunch while swindlin’ ye for every last guilder!” 

The stakes are a little higher for Niall in the reworking, and he hints that something even worse than just losing his (and the rest of the Greenlings’) home awaits him if he can’t get his forest back...Sensing blood in the water, Roland makes Niall an offer he can’t refuse: a couple of trees for the return of his entire forest. There’s a little more of a pause in between Roland closing the deal with Niall and then belatedly making sure that Evan’s okay with the terms. Roland knows that he should have cleared it with Evan before making the offer, but there’s a difference between saying that you defer authority to a kid the age of your son on a subject you are well versed in, and then actually doing it...

Evan’s cool with the terms of the deal because helping Niall get his forest back is the right thing to do, of course! And...he knows what getting driven out of your home by someone feels like. (In the background, Batu raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment.) With that squared away, the ka-tet head down to Goldpaw to deal with the repercussions of Niall’s gambling problem. Among the many little conversations between characters that can be easily missed if the player is not paying attention enough is this one with Roland and Tani:

> **Tani** : “Are you sure it’s a good read making deals like that? What if we can’t get Niall’s forest back?”
> 
> **Roland** : “We’ll figure something out. And besides, I doubt there’s much of a downside for us whatever happens. Don’t worry about it.”

( _Other than just being an example of Roland’s logical and pragmatic side, the game never really does anything with this line. In the context of Roland's character, it's a bit concerning to have a powerful world leader be so flippant about making deals he's not sure if he can keep and handwaving the potential consequences of doing so, especially when the other people affected are Evan's kingdom's closest neighbors. In the interest of giving Roland actual flaws in the reworking... put a bookmark in this line, it will come up later._ )

There is one other little dialogue en route to the new kingdom in the reworking since it’s such a long walk from the Forest of Niall to Goldpaw. It starts with Evan asking how many times Batu and Tani have met Niall before. Batu replies that it’s only been a couple of times since Niall’s a tough customer and bartering with him is like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. (He grumbles that if he’d known about Niall’s weakness to gambling, some of that haggling may have been a lot easier and less time-consuming...)

Tani interrupts him to inform Evan that Niall doesn’t care much for outsiders, and the only Sky Pirate leader that he’ll talk to is Batu. Lofty asks if this is because the other Sky Pirates skip the negotiating and go straight to threats to try and get their way, and Tani’s awkward expression indicates that this is the case but she doesn’t say that directly. Batu gruffly explains that Niall might be a grouch, but he’ll give you a fair shake if you be straight with him and don’t try to exploit him or his people unfairly. Like the Sky Pirates, the Greenlings also lack the protection of a Kingmaker, so Niall has to be shrewd if he wants to keep his forest from getting taken by a stronger force...

...like Goldpaw, one of the other three kingdoms with a Kingmaker aside from Ding Dong Dell (and Evan’s kingdom once he has an actual kingdom to speak of). Tani wonders why Niall would do something as foolish as to gamble his home over a dice game, and Evan muses that if Niall and Pugnacuis were friends the latter should have stopped the former from making such a grave mistake. Roland concludes that there must be more to the situation than meets the eye, and they’ll just have to ask the Grand High Roller himself.

* * *

( _In order for Evan’s “unite the world” plan to work, the other rulers of the major nations have to be at least a little incompetent at their jobs, otherwise he’d never stand a chance. That being said, the world of Ni No Kuni in_ Revenant Kingdom _is lowkey a dystopia. For someone living in one of the nations with a Kingmaker, it would be difficult to overthrow a corrupt ruler without possibly fighting a dragon since what constitutes a ruler “losing their connection” to their subjects is up to the Kingmaker in question. (Which makes Mausinger's coup all the more impressive.)_

 _Oakenheart, Kingmaker of Ding Dong Dell for generations, seemingly never intervened as the monarchs before King Leonhard oppressed the Mousefolk, even though they were just as much subjects of the kingdom as the Grimalkin and Humans who also lived there. Bastion didn’t have a problem with Zip siccing him on a group of peaceful protestors until Doloran severed their Kingsbond, nor did he have a problem with Zip overworking his staff/citizens to the point of collapse enough to turn on Zip before said Kingsbond severing. Brineskimmer clearly never gave a shit about the volcano or the time loop if he’s been napping down in the Abyss this whole time. At least Longfang showed up before Doloran snatched Pugnacius’s Kingsbond, so he was trying to let his ruler know that he’d screwed up before the bond was severed. (The_ Timeless Tome _DLC vaguely hints that Alisandra was the cause of the previous monarch before Doloran due to his desire to use her power to conquer other lands.)_

_And for those people living in a smaller nation without a Kingmaker or just on their own, they are living under the constant threat of being taken down by a kingdom with more strength than them by sheer virtue of having a Kingmaker unless they are allied or under the control of a larger kingdom, like Capstan-upon-Hull. Evan really only gets to rule the world because the other world leaders are too easily manipulated by Doloran, who underestimated Evan until the very last second._

_Oh yeah, and the explicit goal of the main protagonist of this game is to **rule the world** , the usual goal of a **villain** in a JRPG. (It’s global domination through peace and fairness, but still an attempt at global domination all the same.) And that’s never presented as a bad thing because he’s good and kind and not susceptible to corruption (now anyway; who knows what happens after Evan gets a bit older and more accustom to absolute rule, or if a different dark wizard shows up...)._

_However, right now the focus is on the first dystopian nation that the ka-tet visits in the game: Goldpaw—a tourist trap of a nation kept alive by a culture that fosters gambling addictions... somehow. The further the ka-tet goes into the city and learns about it, the more the player must suspend their disbelief that Goldpaw as a nation has lasted as long as it has. The kingdom’s main source of income is dependent on tourism if the state is willing to invest so heavily in the casinos. The layout of the main street (with the shops, restaurants, and inn all built around the path to the casino so people would be tempted to spend money on their way to their destination) supports this. However, this is also a world in which eras of global conflict happen in a cyclical manner, and one would imagine that puts a damper on tourism at times._

_Taxing the citizens would make up for this lost revenue, but no one likes paying taxes... unless you made it fun somehow. Whoever came up with the idea of rolling dice for the tax rate was genius: there’s a five in six chance that the rate goes up, but people who already believe in fortune and luck will take that chance if it means potentially paying nothing at all. That means intentionally fostering a culture of belief in luck and chance, otherwise the entire house of cards comes crashing down if enough people wisen up to the charade._

_But then you might run into the problem that Pugnacius had: a series of ones means no government funding for months, endangering the town with poverty if the tourism dried up and the local economy went with it. And he can’t have been the only Grand High Roller who that happened to. Goldpaw’s tradition of “roll the dice for every major decision” as its only means of governance should realistically have resulted in other such incidents over the years unless good fortune is real...or (more likely) Pugnacius wasn’t the first ruler to come up with the idea of manipulating “fate”..._ )

* * *

**6:50pm approx., Goldpaw, Day Two**

The art direction in Goldpaw is also top-notch and the music is super catchy with just the appropriate amount of sleaze, making it perfect for an area that’s half-Generic “Vaguely Chinese” Land™ and half-Macao. As Evan, Tani, and Lofty are distracted by all the pretty lights, Batu explains to Roland that the casinos are all state-owned and the main source of income for the kingdom. (Roland is surprised that Batu knows all of this at first—do the Sky Pirates even have taxes?—but keeps his comments to himself for the moment.)

Evan’s line about asking Pugnacuis nicely to give Niall his forest back is a bit too twee, even for him. So it’ll be replaced by a more firm statement about reminding Pugnacuis that he can’t just callously take people’s homes from them in a dice game, especially people he’s supposed to be friends with! Roland seems more cautious and reminds Evan they may be here to negotiate on Niall’s behalf, but that they (Evan especially) can’t afford to make an enemy out of Pugnacius—especially since Goldpaw is the closest kingdom to theirs with a Kingmaker. They don’t even have fortifications yet, much less an army should they do something to piss off this kingdom's leader...

As the ka-tet make their way up the main road towards the Hall of the Grand High Roller, they can’t help but notice the loud, ugly birds following half of the population around and squawking about money. In a cutscene just outside the casino, Lofty wonders why anyone would want a pet that loud and annoying, and Batu explains that the dogfolk of Goldpaw are a superstitious lot: they’d do anything, no matter how ridiculous or humiliating, if they thought it would bring them “good fortune”.

> **Evan** : “Golly, you sure know a lot about Goldpaw, Batu!”
> 
> **Tani** , suspicious: “Yeah...I thought you said that you’d never been here before...?”
> 
> **Batu** , mildly panicking: “Er, course I haven’t ever been here! I jus’... keep a keen ear out fer gossip, tha’s all!”
> 
> **Roland and Lofty** , sarcastically: ‘ _Sure you do..._ ’

The ka-tet are just in time to see the oddest thing in the game thus far: the general public excited about something related to _taxes_ of all things. When Roland calls out how irresponsible it is to make important civic decisions (tax rates, criminal trials, etc.) via dice, the only counterarguments he gets from the “Good-Natured Young Man” shelling out exposition are “ ~~This is the~~ It is our way” and “It’s fun”. Although the citizens have to admit that it’s not so much fun when you actually have to pay exponentially increasing taxes. ( _If Pugnacius hadn’t been so greedy and made the rigged dice roll higher numbers other than straight sixes, he might have just gotten away with his scheme by being less obvious about it._ ) After finding out that Pugs has rolled sixes for the past two months in addition to the roll they witnessed just now, the whole ka-tet calls shenanigans. However, Roland has had his suspicions even before Lady Luck did her thing.

> **Roland** , rhetorically, to Evan: “What does a king—or Grand High Roller in this case—do?”
> 
> **Evan** , puzzled: “Er...Make important decisions for their kingdom?”
> 
> **Roland** : “Right, but that man—er, dog informed us earlier that every important decision here is made by the roll of a dice. Why would a kingdom that runs on “fortune” even need an oligarch to rule it? What function would he be serving?”
> 
> **Batu** : “...well, someone’s gotta distribute all these taxes collected, eh?”
> 
> **Tani** , catching on: “But they could decide that by dice roll as well, couldn’t they?”
> 
> **Roland** : “Exactly. So Pugnacius holds all the power in this kingdom, with none of the accountability that a ruler ought to face from his people because all the big decisions that could upset them have the convenient excuse of “bad luck”...”
> 
> **Lofty** , appalled: “So, you think tha’ ol’ Dogface is playing everyone ‘ere for suckers?”
> 
> **Roland** , lowering his voice: “It’s possible... But we’re not here to expose a conspiracy; we’re here to get Niall’s forest back for him so that we can get Evan’s kingdom started. Let’s not rock the boat before it’s even been built.”
> 
> **Evan** , deep in thought: “...”

Attempting to play the Gatekeeper for the chance to speak to Pugnacius ends up with Evan himself getting played, a ten million guilder debt, and a very angry bird. Tani declares that this is exactly why Evan needs her around; she and Roland were telling him to stop after the second roll, but he didn’t listen—now look what's happened! Batu scoffs and tells his daughter that she’s being too hard on the kid; it ain’t Evan’s fault that he didn’t know any better, but now he’s not going to make the same mistake again, is he? Lofty grumbles that a debt of ten million guilders is a pretty expensive mistake...

One would think that the concept of a physical manifestation of a person’s debt that screams at them every so often would deter people from gambling, but the culture of terrible decision-making in Goldpaw seems to keep the casino in business. For that reason, the cutscene with the casino employee agreeing to only let someone in debt (Evan) into the establishment to merely observe is cut. Why wouldn’t they want an easy mark entering and spending their guilders in an attempt to make their debt go away? Why be ethical towards potential tourists when you’re robbing your own citizens blind? Instead, it's Roland who has to snappishly remind Evan that they're only here to observe, not get into further debt.

Despite being the main source of the information that all of Goldpaw’s games are rigged, Batu also has a gambling problem and now a matching Duebill at the end of the casino investigation. Luckily, Tani has sticky fingers and more common sense than her father. The ka-tet heads to the local inn so that Tani can show them all how the Goldpaw government is scamming everyone.

( _Traveling between the casino and the inn feels a bit like padding, but it also makes more sense for the characters to go somewhere where none of the city officials could see that someone has stolen a dice. Perhaps the original game should have had the characters just teleport to the inn for Tani’s demonstration so this didn’t feel like a pointless minute of walking for this one cutscene? The “more bodies in Evermore at the start of Chapter Four″ initiative is also going to mean that Persha is now a mandatory citizen and will be recruited in this chapter. So that will be the event that requires the player to walk to the inn in the reworking._ )

Persha and Evan are both relieved to see the other alive and well when the ka-tet come across her in the lobby of The Dreaming Chamomile Inn. After she explains how she was able to escape the kingdom, Evan asks Persha if the other maids who didn’t flee the castle—such as Ratja ( _who is getting namedropped much earlier so that her existence doesn't seem like a contrivance to make Mausinger more sympathetic at the eleventh hour with no build up—as it does in the original game—when the player returns to Ding Dong Dell after half of the game is already over_ )—will be okay. Persha informs him that Ratja has been helping the grimalkin who worked in the castle (and others) get away from the kingdom due to the mouse guards blindly assuming that she’s completely loyal to Mausinger because of her species. Persha herself asked Ratja to leave with her, but the other chambermaid decided to stay behind to help whoever she can.

Evan invites her to his new kingdom (in progress), but Persha hesitates because she just accepted a job offer here half an hour ago... The innkeeper insists that she’ll be able to find someone else and Persha doesn’t owe her anything because she hasn’t even signed a contract yet, but Persha still insists on doing something nice for her to repay her kindness. The four clumps of greenglade cotton needed for her sidequest aren’t too rare so the player can just Travel back to the forest and fight monsters and/or collect the sparkles for a bit if they don't already have the materials on hand. Once Evan comes back with the cotton, Persha belatedly realizes that she needs thread for the quilt that she’s trying to sew and she doesn’t have the tools to turn the cotton fluffs into thread...

Lady Pekingese informs her that she has a seamstress friend she meets with for tea who owes her a favor, so the second part of the quest involves tacking down Yip-Yip ( _who will also be a mandatory citizen in a later chapter_ ) for her assistance in that. Yip-Yip’s apprentice Pi Chi seems rather star-struck with Evan, and she asks him a lot of questions about living in another kingdom while her mentor is off processing the cotton. Evan seems wistful as he tries to answer all of her questions about Ding Dong Dell. With all that’s happened, he hadn’t really felt any homesickness towards his former kingdom up until now...

A few feet away, the rest of the ka-tet (minus Lofty, who’s glued to his king’s side as always) watch this awkward exchange. Tani quietly comments on how awful it must feel to lose your home. She’d been all set to leave the Southern Sky Pirates’ Base on her own, but if she had been driven out by force or something... Roland nods empathically, but Batu doesn’t seem to react. He does keep his attention on Evan for the rest of the scene as Yip-Yip returns with the thread, with the camera slightly behind him as if to simulate his point of view.

Before Persha leaves for Evan’s once and future kingdom at the end of the sidequest, she tells him that she’ll try to get word to some of the other Dellian ex-pats that she escaped with about Evan’s new kingdom as well. She is a mandatory citizen because the player needs her to leave in order for the lobby of the inn to be empty. With no witnesses around, Tani can finally explain to the rest of the ka-tet how the trick dice function.

When Evan and Roland express surprise that she stole one of the casino dice, Tani flippantly responds that of course she stole it—what kind of novice Sky Pirate do they take her for? She’s not as airy with the Gatekeeper once the ka-tet returns to counter-manipulate the dice in their favor. Once Tani has officially accused him of having fixed his own dice first, he barks back:

> **Gatekeeper** : “You have no proof! How dare you!? As if anyone would believe the words of some lowly Sky Pirate filth!”
> 
> **Batu and Tani** , furious: “Oi!”

[ **Gameplay Change** : It’ll be a few more cutscenes until the player can go back to combat, so a plot-mandatory fight will be thrown in here for the sake of more gameplay. Fortune Square seems big enough to have a small battle, so the Gatekeeper summons a couple of soldiers to fight the ka-tet for their slanderous accusations.

  
Yeah, I’d say this space is big enough for a small fight.

There’s plenty of cover with all the statues around so the player can practice ranged attacks for the upcoming boss fights. These guards aren’t too tough, they’re your typical mooks at the standard level for this area.] Luckily Pugnacuis and his advisor arrive before anyone can get seriously hurt. Once the ka-tet explain the situation, Pugnacuis banishes their duebills before he has the gatekeeper thrown in prison for cheating and siccing the palace guards on these messengers from his good friend Niall.

As Evan, Roland, and Lofty walk into the palace after the Grand High Roller and his masked underling, Tani and Batu hang back for a little bit. Noticing how Tani’s still seething at the gatekeeper’s words, Batu points out how hypocritical it was of him to level such judgments against them for their affiliations when he, a state official, just tried to cheat them out of ten million guilders (in his own characteristic way of speaking, of course). Tani admits that she’s more upset that this is how people outside of Cloudcoil Canyon see the Sky Pirates: uncivilized ruffians who are no better than the bandits. Batu scoffs that’s just how these pampered people from the big cities are: they’ve convinced themselves that they’re righteous because they don’t have to struggle to make a living, and thus turn up their noses at the people who don’t live as they do. They’re so blind to their own hypocrisies that they can’t even process the truth when it’s thrown right back in their face...

Tani insists that Evan’s not like that, and Batu responds that Evan’s more of the exception to the rule. He declares that there are more people like the Gatekeeper than like Evan in this world, and it would do Tani some good not to forget that. With an unsure look, Tani mulls over this as they walk into the palace to rejoin the others in confronting Pugnacius.

* * *

In the Grand High Roller’s ostentatious chambers, Evan is more visibly bothered by Pugnacius’ dismissive response regarding Niall’s home being taken from him due to an ill-advised bet. His ears twitch in irritation as Pugnacius claims that “fortune” has dictated that Niall and his followers are just going to have to move and deal with it. Only Roland quickly making the sarcastic observation about the high amount of cheating in Goldpaw saves Evan from demanding how Pugnacius can consider Niall his friend then take everything from him without a shred of remorse. Even though the ka-tet just found a government official cheating with an official government dice, Pugnacius insists that his bet with Niall was valid because Niall bet on Lady Luck herself. And no one would dare tamper with such a sacred symbol of this town! (That just makes her all the more suspicious, but no one is willing to say that out loud.)

In the reworking, Roland knows better than to try and call Pugnacius out on this lie without any evidence to back it up. Instead, he points out that even if they believe Pugnacius’s side of the story, they can’t just report back to Niall with only the word of the new owner of Niall’s forest as proof that no shenanigans took place. Pugnacius gives them his permission to examine the dice and the statue in order to get rid of them, and Roland hustles the rest of the ka-tet out of there before he can change his mind.

As they leave, the camera lingers on the dog in golden armor at the foot of the throne platform. He regards these outsiders with curiosity, before the scene shifts to Pugnacius and the Mandarin being suspicious. As the cutscene ends, there are faint purple wisps of smoke visible around Pugnacius and neither of them seem to notice...

Back out in the courtyard, Tani scoffs that Pugnacius isn’t much of a friend if he’s cheating Niall out of his most important possession. Evan agrees vehemently, but a barely audible hiss of pain (to human ears anyway) draws his attention to Roland, who is blinking his eyes rapidly as if trying to stave off a headache. Roland insists that he’s fine when Evan voices his concern; all the bright lights reflecting off the gold in the throne room must have been on the verge of giving him a headache, but he’s fine now. ( _After being in the same room for several instances over the course of the game without anything occurring, Doloran’s effect on Roland comes out of seemingly nowhere in Chapter Nine of the original game (unless the player reads Roland's journal entries from the_ Lair of the Lost Lord _DLC). In the reworking, it will be a bit more obvious in the base game_.)

Evan admits that he might have been coming down with a headache as well because he could swear that at certain points, it looked like there was a faint purple aura surrounding Pugnacius. Tani and Lofty admit that they also noticed this purple smoke, especially when Pugnacius was most adamant about feeling no obligation to return Niall’s forest to him. Batu and Roland didn’t really notice this, being the two of the ka-tet least familiar with magic, but they did notice the Grand High Roller’s dull and lifeless eyes. And his behavior didn’t really show any signs of him being inebriated in any way...

On their way to Lady Luck, the soldier in golden armor from the throne room stops the ka-tet before they can check out the statue. Captain Ya Pi politely introduces himself and asks why they’re working for Niall. Roland, currently of the opinion that Evan’s status as a new king shouldn’t be broadcast to the world until he actually has a kingdom to rule, vaguely states that their association with Niall is purely a business one—why do you ask? Ya Pi replies that he was simply trying to figure out why the relationship between Master Pugnacius and Niall had gone so sour in such a short amount of time. The leader of Goldpaw hasn’t been himself for a few weeks, and the army captain speculated that it was due to some kind of argument between the two of them. Tani asks if this means that Pugnacius and Niall used to actually be friends, and Ya Pi more or less confirms this as he takes his leave since the ka-tet doesn’t seem to have any more useful information for him. 

The initial examination of the dice doesn’t turn up anything at first, since Lofty claims the dice has too many wards and charms to be influenced by any sort of magic...until Tani points out that there wasn’t anything magical about the trick dice that they found in the casino. The old man who yells at Lofty then provides the rest of the exposition needed for the ka-tet to figure out where to look for evidence to use against Pugnacius. After deciding that a return trip to the Forest of Niall is in order, everyone else walks away except Roland.

> **Roland** : ‘ _“Young man”? Hmph, I thought I’d be happier with a second chance to be young again...but no one in this world is going to take me seriously at this age..._ ’


	8. Ch.3.3 - Boy, You Must Be Dreaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [ Rock on, young savior, don't give up your hopes. ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k915Abqibxo)

## Chapter Three: Something Old, Something Borrowed (Part Three)

**8:50 pm approx., Sunnypatch Pond, Forest of Niall, Day Two**

Niall is disappointed, but not surprised when the ka-tet return with the news that not only does Pugnacius still own his forest, but he probably cheated it off of Niall with rigged dice. That two-faced mutt! With a sigh, Niall recalls that he’d honestly thought that Pugnacius was different from the previous Grand High Rollers of Goldpaw when he’d actually made the effort to travel to Niall’s Forest and meet him in person. All this time, he’d foolishly believed that there was genuine camaraderie between them...

Evan, still fresh from a massive personal betrayal of his own, clearly empathizes with him further. Tani brings up the fact that that they have no proof that Lady Luck has been rigged yet...but with the information they’ve been given, it’s almost certain that dice is of a similar nature to the casino dice.

Cheating aside, there’s still the strange aura around the leader of Goldpaw that needs an explanation. Roland asks Niall if Pugnacius was acting oddly the last time they’d talked. With the benefit of hindsight, the leader of the Greenlings recalls that their last meeting was actually a bit peculiar, cheating him out of his forest notwithstanding. Typically the two of them would go and get some refreshments before hitting the tables on a usual night, but Pugnacius had insisted on skipping the food and beverages in favor of getting right into the betting.

Another odd thing: the Grand High Roller was usually alone on their regular guy’s night out as a way for him to not have to deal with the stress of leadership for a few hours and for his court to have a break. But this time he had one of his advisors with him: a human (very unusual in Goldpaw) in a mask whom Niall had never seen before. This advisor (who had some name related to fruit, but Niall couldn’t recall what) didn’t say a word to Niall the whole evening. He just followed Pugnacius around like a weird purple shadow, occasionally whispering something in his ear...

Batu remarks that he knew there was something fishy about that Mandarin guy. Lofty and Tani also admit that he was giving them the creeps as well. Niall wonders what that has to do with anything, and the ka-tet bring up the signs of Brokenheartedness they’ve observed in the Grand High Roller. Obviously they don’t know what that is yet and neither does he: Niall muses that he’s never heard of a spell or a sickness that produces dull eyes and a dark aura...although the description sounds familiar, like something from a story he’s heard before. Plus, some kind of outside influence would explain Pugnacius’s odd behavior.

Roland suggests that they save the psychoanalysis for once they’ve gotten Niall’s Forest back to him (and they’ve gotten the lumber for Evan’s kingdom). Niall points them in the direction of the Auld Woods, where Pugnacuis’s folk have set up camp, before handing over the Quicken Growth spell so the plot can advance. As the ka-tet heads out, he promises to look into the knowledge of the other Forest Guardians to figure out what’s been going on.

On the way to the first set of mushrooms, Roland asks Tani and Batu who the Forest Guardians are. Neither of them have a clue; Niall’s never mentioned such a group to them and they haven’t heard of them before elsewhere either. Lofty suspiciously hangs back a bit, as if considering if he should say something, then seems to think better of it as he hurries to catch up with the rest of the group.

There’s one more dialogue on the way to the Dice Factory after Quicken Growth has been cast at least once: Tani muses about the nature of this spell and if anything else can be affected by it. Evan reminds them that Niall said it only worked on plants, but Roland points out that toadstools are fungi, not plants. Evan murmurs that the rules of magic are complicated, perhaps toadstools are plant-like enough to count? None of Nella’s lessons ever got that far... Batu raises an eyebrow at the name drop and Evan’s sudden moroseness. He glances over at Tani for an explanation, but she shrugs back because doesn’t have a clue who that is yet. Roland pointedly ignores him; Evan can tell the rest of the ka-tet about Nella when he’s ready to do so.

* * *

**9:20 pm approx., Lucky ~~Dice Factory~~ Lumber Mill, Forest of Niall, Day Two**

( _Building the factory in which all the kingdom’s fake dice are manufactured in a forest miles to the north of Goldpaw would certainly keep the cityfolk away, but what was the plan if a random adventurer or traveling merchant happened upon the Dice Factory? Also, where is all the woodcutting equipment it would have taken to process all the lumber taken from the massive trees of the forest and turn them into tiny dice? The facility in the original game is too small for the construction needed to produce the large fake dice for Lady Luck._ )

In the reworking, the area past the Waystone at the end of the Auld Woods looks a bit different. The new dice factory is disguised as a lumber mill (still built in the general style of Goldpaw) and takes up most of the space in front of the original building, with enough space that the ka-tet can still hide behind a pile of logs by the entrance and scope out the place. The factory area in the original game is simply the entrance with the main building behind it, so it looks a bit more like this piece of concept art:

  
It’s a shame that all the industrial elements of this older design were cut in the original game, making the secret dice factory look more like someone’s swanky summer cabin from the outside.

Tani’s line about charging in and shouting their heads off ( _clearly meant to be sarcastic, but the ka-tet isn’t at the level of camaraderie yet that this feels like natural dialogue yet_ ) is changed to her making the drier observation that the main doors seem to be the only way in or out of the building.

> **Roland** : “We need to slip in undetected and find out what they’re doing.”
> 
> **Tani** : “But how?”
> 
> **Evan** : “Hmm… there’s a spell called Spring Lock that can open all sorts of locks! I don’t know it though…Oh, if we had a Locketyclicker, it could turn into the key we could use to open the door and sneak in! We don’t have one though…Hmm…”

( _Instead of all those fantastical gadgets (that have not appeared anywhere else in the story at that point) pulled out of thin air to facilitate a few action sequences in the original game, the reworking adds foreshadowing to the big dramatic scene in Chapter ~~Seven~~ Eight by introducing the components of it earlier in the story. What a concept._)

Luckily some factory workers happen to step out for a smoke break, and the resident sky pirates come up with a better plan with the materials that they do have on hand: their fists and years of sky pirating. The workers catch some hands and the ka-tet suddenly has an acceptable pair of disguises.

> **Roland** : “Guess I should’ve expected as much from a pair of sky pirates…”
> 
> **Batu** , feathers slightly ruffled as he’s reminded about his earlier conversation: “Did ye have a better plan?”
> 
> **Roland** , somewhat surprised at having genuinely offended Batu: “…not really.”

In the reworking, Roland and Tani go into the factory because she’s got the pickpocketing skills to snatch up the evidence of Pugnacuis’s wrongdoing that Roland wants without anyone noticing. (She’s at least more subtle about it than Evan of all people, who’s never stolen anything in his life.) Plus, the ka-tet realize that it would be a bad look for Evan to get caught sneaking into another kingdom’s secret facility and committing theft. So Evan and Lofty stay behind with Batu while Tani tries to fit all of her bushy hair under that tiny hat as she and Roland enter the fake lumber mill.

* * *

As they enter, the first factory employee that Tani and Roland come across lets out a huge yawn as he passes them, oblivious to the imposters right in front of his face. When Tani expresses surprise that their stupid disguises actually work, Roland muses that if all of the Goldpaw folk here are just as sleep-deprived then the foremen must be working everyone here to the bone trying to crank out more dice for the kingdom. This plan might just go off without a hitch after all...

Roland explains what exactly they’re looking for, and [ **Gameplay Change** : the player takes control of Tani for this section. The lumber mill might be a front for the real purpose of the facility (trick dice manufacturing), but there are saws and other things you might see in a lumber mill on the main floor, which is connected to the main entrance via a downward staircase where the central boiler is located in the original game. However, should the player attempt to make their way down there, this results in Tani hitting an invisible wall and Roland remarking that the evidence they’re looking for probably won’t be on the main floor in plain sight. The rooms on either side of the entrance (where the original game’s evidence is located) are still on the ground floor level, but both of them are now locked for security purposes. Luckily, Roland has the key from the supervisor that Tani and Batu just jumped, so that proves to be no obstacle. As per the original game, it doesn’t matter which order the evidence is collected in.]

The room on the left from the entrance where the Remote Device is located is about the same size in the reworking, since only a few remotes for the large dice would need to be built. It looks more like an office now, with all the shelves full of scrolls and documents littering the few desks. There are fewer NPCs around, so less potential witnesses to see Tani swiping evidence. In the reworking, the Remote Device is found next to a detailed page of instructions for its use, since the original game has Roland and Evan just snag it off a workbench with only a hunch that this doodad controls Lady Luck. ( _Imagine if Roland had been wrong at the trial..._ )

Tani, having grown up around flying machines that don’t seem to operate solely on magic, is less impressed that Goldpaw has built this kind of technology (with some assistance from a couple of engineers from Broadleaf, whose names are helpfully printed on the document) using purely mechanical means than Evan was in the original game. She does notice that the schematics mention a set of “Original Blueprints” several times, and wonders what those could be. She snags the device, but leaves the instructions on the bench since such an important-looking document going missing would be far more suspicious (but not without taking a picture of them using the camera on the Leafbook viewer, at Roland's behest). When Roland comments that the remote device is “how [they’re] going to make [Pugnacius] pay [for stealing Niall’s forest]”, Tani reacts with much more enthusiasm to the promise of future vengeance towards the Grand High Roller and his government officials. Mildly bemused, Roland reminds her that they’re not here to get revenge on Pugnacuis... as their main objective. If he and his government get humiliated during the pursuit of their actual goals, well, that’s just a bonus for them. The ka-tet is still going to need a bit more proof of Goldpaw’s corruption to make their case though.

The room on the right from the entrance where the trick dice are assembled (and the Signed Instructions are found) is a bit larger, with a row of workbenches where workers are busy building buckets full of dice. There might be more workers present here than in the other room, but all of them are too busy to notice Tani swiping the Signed Instructions out of a wastebin. The Signed Instructions also refer to the “Original Blueprints” several times. Once both pieces of evidence are acquired, Roland comments that it would be nice if they were able to find this document as well just before the two overhear a foreman yelling at another worker for leaving “the master blueprint” out on the main floor where old documents like those could be easily damaged. And that schematic is incredibly important, with no backup copies available due to its secretive nature. Roland and Tani share a pointed look before heading down to the main floor in search of said secret document.

Now the player is granted access to the largest room in the complex. Production is clearly winding down for the night, as most of the larger machinery has been stored away ( _all that space will be needed for the upcoming boss fight_ ), but Tani complains that there are too many workers around to snag the aged scroll sitting on a table near the far end of the room. They’re going to need a distraction...

Roland points to something offscreen and suggests that maybe they can get some help from a local. Since his Higgledy Stone has been displaced by the expanded factory in the reworking, Mutton-Bane the Mushy is hanging out on one of the unprocessed logs by the wall with a bunch of other sad-looking higgledies. He seems surprised when Tani and Roland can see him as they walk over. Tani is equally surprised to see another higgledy, but Roland recalls that higgledies are nature spirits—it shouldn’t be so surprising to see at least one in a huge forest like this.

Tani guesses that this place used to be home to Mutton-Bane and his friends before the dogfolk of Goldpaw rolled in, and the higgledy confirms this in mournful little noises. Roland guesses that this must have been what Niall was talking about when he mentioned that this whole forest would suffer if he didn’t regain ownership from Pugnacuis: cutting down all the trees here would mean that all the denizens of the forest (not just the Greenlings) would lose their homes too. Horrified, Tani proclaims that they can’t wait for Niall to get his forest back—they have to kick Goldpaw out of the forest now before more poor creatures lose their homes too! The higgledies chirp excitedly at this call to action, and Roland concedes that if they can make it look like an accident, perhaps they can at least get all the workers out of the factory without getting caught trying to sabotage another kingdom...

Cut to an animated cutscene. An exhausted-looking worker hears a noise, then turns around to see a saw bobbing up and down in the air behind him. He lets out a shriek, and his coworkers look up to see more bits of dangerous equipment floating around them.

> **Factory Worker 1** : “What in the world is going on?”
> 
> **Factory Foreman** : “Is this some kind of dumb prank? Whoever you are, put all of those down and get back to work right now, or you’re fired!”

Without warning, all of the flames powering the boilers and the central machinery are doused with a hiss—as if put out by a jet of water. With the room nearly pitch black, Mutton-Bane makes a satisfied noise before raising his little stick up in the air with a cry. Suddenly all of the tools are flying right at the workers! They start running towards the exit en masse.

> **Factory Worker 2** : “I-It’s the ghosts of the forest! They must be angry that we’re chopping down all of their sacred trees!”
> 
> **Factory Worker 3** : “I knew taking a job so far away from the city was an unlucky choice! Why didn’t I listen!?”

The Foreman tries to yell at all of his people to stop running, but he takes off screaming as several sawblades fly at him in unison. Amidst all the chaos, he forgets to grab the important Original Blueprints on his way out so he never discovers that Tani’s already snatched them from the desk. He does hit a large button by the door that triggers a loud alarm before he exits, pursued by a bandsaw.

Tani and the remaining higgledies can’t help but let out a cheer as the last worker rushes out the door. After a couple of days worth of plans backfiring somehow, Roland can't help but remark that that was almost _too_ easy. Amidst all the machinery in the basement, a purple flame ignites as the factory’s security system comes alive, summoned by the alarm...

* * *

Meanwhile outside the factory, Evan and Lofty are sitting on a pile of logs, watching Batu pace back and forth seemingly lost in thought. They both assume at first that he’s just worried about Tani and Roland getting caught, but that doesn't seem to be the whole story. Occasionally, he looks up to glare at Evan before going back to muttering to himself. Fed up, finally Lofty asks the Cloud Snake if either he or Evan has something on their face—why does he keep staring in their direction?

After some vague grumbling, Batu reveals that he’s still mulling over the alleged similarities that Tani made between him and Evan at the beginning of the chapter (and if he should be offended by the comparison). A gruff older sky pirate and a bright-eyed young naive king are about as comparable as night and day; what in the world could that girlie be on about? Evan looks thoughtful, but Lofty asks if Tani was just kidding. Batu scoffs that he knows when his daughter is joking around, and she was a hundred percent serious with her assertion.

While Lofty quips about both Evan and Batu having a weakness for dice games as their big similarity, Evan recalls Tani’s lines about the two of them thinking outside the box and seeing something that no one else can. What could she possibly be referring to? He can’t think of anything the two of them have in common either (except maybe the dice thing, Lofty might have a point there).

Evan’s first idea is literal: he muses out loud that he and Batu can both see higgledies when no one else can. Well, except for Roland, Tani, Auntie Martha...

Lofty asks why this is comparison is so important to Batu, and he admits that he’s still trying to understand what’s driving Tani to leave home and follow Evan around on this crazy scheme of his. Lofty scoffs that that’s just something kids do—leave the nest to find their own place in the world. Incredulous, Batu asks the Kingmaker what he’d even know about having a kid anyway. Lofty mutters that he might not know about parenting, but he’s been in the other situation before...

Evan is too deep in thought to hear him. Somewhat hesitantly, he asks Batu if the other Sky Pirate leaders approved of the whole “Cloud Snake” con at first. Batu scoffs that they’d nearly laughed him out of his own base at first, at least until they’d seen the rewards that he’d reaped in the process. Evan muses that no one else seems to believe that he’ll be able to build a kingdom of his own in a similar way...

Batu gruffly explains that Evan needs some deeds to back up his words, or people will just dismiss him for having lofty ideals with nothing to show for it. No one will respect a person who claims authority if they haven’t done anything deserving of respect. None of the other sky pirates accepted him as Chief just because of his title; he had to earn their trust and respect by being a good leader. Likewise, just having a Kingmaker doesn’t make Evan a good king... yet.

Perhaps that’s the similarity that Tani saw between him and Evan: the determination to get something done even when everyone else laughs in your face and mocks your ideas? And maybe that’s what convinced him to give Evan and Roland a chance aside from saving his daughter: no one else would have stuck their neck out for someone they didn’t even know all that well? 

Before he can vocalize this thought, the screaming factory workers begin pouring out of the building in haste (with a pack of higgledies carrying comically oversized tools following behind them) and loud alarms begin blaring inside the factory. Evan, Lofty, and Batu dive for cover just in time, but they might as well have not bothered because the fleeing workers seem to be more concerned about leaving than spotting any potential intruders. Once they’ve all gone, Evan remarks that Tani and Roland must still be inside if there’s only one exit. They head on in and down the stairs to find Roland, Tani, and Mutton-Bane face to face with the factory’s “security system”: the Temper Temple boss.

[ **Gameplay Change** : The Mossy Monument miniboss fought during this section looks right at home in the Forest of Niall, but doesn’t match the aesthetic of Goldpaw, who are the ones that have put this monster in place to act as their security system. The Temper Temple, fought within the Shrine of Unity in Chapter Nine of the original game, looks more on-brand with Goldpaw even though it is hidden in a remote shrine in Jack Frost’s Playground. So that area will have a different boss, and the Temper Temple will be fought here instead. (The Mossy Monuments can just be tough enemies that hang out in the Rumbly Ruins and other postgame dungeons.)

  
( _It’s so strange that the only mandatory ice dungeon in the game has a fire-themed boss at the end, almost like it was supposed to be fought somewhere else originally but had to be moved..._ )

This miniboss will be scaled down to early game levels for this fight, and won’t use its tracking orb attack as much. In addition, the higgledies from earlier will throw the tools lying around the room at the enemy on occasion, which will knock it out of the spinning attack in which it becomes invulnerable for a time. Mutton-Bane is a plot-mandatory higgledy in order to make this fight much easier since the player probably only has Evan’s Water Balloon spell as their sole source of Water damage at this point. The Temper Temple still drops the Watery Barrage Bow on defeat, which will be useful against the other Fire-themed boss of this chapter.]

Once the boss has been taken care of and someone has found a way to shut off the blaring alarms, Roland and Tani present the evidence gathered from the factory. Their most interesting find is the Original Blueprint: a much older schematic of a trick dice that the current models have been modified from. Roland guesses that it could be from before Pugnacuis’s reign as Grand High Roller, which means he might not be the first corrupt leader in charge of that kingdom... Somehow shocked that a city built around a casino could have corruption this deep, Evan wonders how long Lady Luck has been rolling fake dice if Pugnacuis wasn’t the first ruler of Goldpaw to control the “fate” of the kingdom. Roland explains that the only way they could uncover the truth without asking anyone directly would be to try to find out how old this document is, but that’s going to be tough without letting anyone know that they have a stolen government document in their possession. Speaking of which...

Roland’s warning to Evan about “interfering directly in another country’s affairs” will have more significance in the reworking, starting in the next chapter. Evan, riding high on the feeling of self-righteousness now that he knows for sure that Pugnacius has been tricking everyone, replies that he’d rather risk making an enemy of Goldpaw than let Pugnacius keep getting away with his deceptions—consequences be damned. Not only is he deceiving Niall, but he’s been deceiving the people he’s supposed to serve and he can’t keep getting away with that!

Tani, Batu, and Lofty are all onboard for speaking truth to power and giving the denizens of Goldpaw justice for their unfair taxation. Still worried about what all this might mean for Evan’s future kingdom, Roland pauses for a bit longer after everyone else has voiced their support before responding.

> **Roland** , reluctantly: “...okay, our leader has spoken then.”

* * *

As the ka-tet exits the Factory with their evidence and new Higgledy friend, Batu suggests that they stop by Niall’s pond to report their findings to him before heading back to Goldpaw. By coincidence, Niall and the rest of the Greenlings happen to arrive in front of the factory at that very moment, so there’s no need for any extraneous backtracking. Niall explains that he and his people witnessed all of the Goldpaw workers scatter like roaches after the alarm had been triggered, then decided to see what had made them all leave in such a hurry. He looks very pleased when the ka-tet report that the factory is now pretty much abandoned...

Roland seems to have been a prosecutor before becoming president (running for public office is a very common career path for lawyers) due to how easy it is for him to slip into that role. He decides that before they go making accusations against Goldpaw’s ruler, the ka-tet first need to read up on the laws of Goldpaw just in case Pugnacius has a legal loophole or something that he can exploit to get out of being held responsible for his crimes. A lawyer should want to know the ins and outs of an unfamiliar system of law before putting someone on trial after all. Plus, they ought to find something to back up their best piece of evidence (the Original Blueprints) if they’re going to convince Pugnacius that they have leverage over him: something that proves that the kingdom’s corruption runs much deeper than the current ruler. Evan puts Roland in charge of this since he seems to know what he’s doing. Niall points them in the direction of the Goldpaw library for all their research needs, though he mentions that it won’t be that easy gaining access to the place...

Just before sending the ka-tet off, Niall fishes through his pockets then hands over the Locket from _Wrath of the White Witch_ that can hold Pieces of Heart to Evan. As the young king examines the green bauble, Niall explains that it’s a relic from ancient times infused with the Old Magic that was given to a great hero by one of the first Forest Guardians, the Old Father of the Dark Woods (aka Old Father Oak of _White Witch_ ). Evan asks where that is—he’s never heard of the place or seen it on any maps. Caught off guard, Niall gives a suspiciously vague answer, claiming that it’s so remote and secluded that it doesn’t appear on any maps. (Not the maps of this world, anyway.)

Tani asks what the Locket does, and Niall has to admit that he doesn’t really know its exact purpose. (The instructions from the previous owner were terribly vague since he was so reluctant to part with it, although Niall keeps this information to himself.) All he knows is that it’s somehow related to fixing people who’ve had their hearts tampered with dark forces and it might be useful in bringing Master Pugnacius to his senses. The rest of the ka-tet think this sounds like a lot of nonsense and/or suspicious as heck, but Evan takes the Locket along anyway.

* * *

Once they get back to Goldpaw, Evan and Tani can’t stop yawning so the ka-tet decides to split up: Roland will go to the library and hit the (law)books in preparation for tomorrow while the rest of the group goes on ahead to rest at the inn before they confront Pugnacius in the morning. But before heading off to bed, Tani will contact those two engineers from Broadleaf via Leafbook and get them to confirm their involvement in making the fake dice remote.

> **Evan** : “Are you sure you won’t be too tired to deal with Pugnacius tomorrow?”
> 
> **Roland** , with a chuckle: “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. I’m young enough to pull all-nighters again!”
> 
> **Batu** : “Yer what?”
> 
> **Roland** : “Oh, nothing.”
> 
> **Batu and Lofty** : “...”

The fact that Boddly even lets Roland into the library at this time of the night at all is proof that she knows who he’s with and who that person will one day grow up to be. However, no matter how pretty of a man he may be, Boddly still won’t let Roland just browse freely without a library card. However, she is “persuaded” to let him have a look at one book containing the laws of Goldpaw and another that details the history of the kingdom (in order to try and figure out how old the Original Blueprints might be). (Boddly claims that her rare generosity tonight is due to the high taxes that have made it harder for her to acquire more books for the library as of late, but Roland later realizes that he didn’t even tell her what he’d come here to search for before she’d started pulling books off of shelves...)

While the librarian leads him to a table where the books—“books” meaning scrolls and stacks of massive stone tablets in this world—are laid out for his perusal, Roland looks around and spots a book titled _My Travels to the Other World_ on another shelf. With Boddly watching him like a (thirsty) hawk, he resolves to come back to the library post-haste after the matter of Pugnacius is dealt with and starts reading. (Luckily for him again, whatever isekai magic brought him here also lets him comprehend the local languages fluently, otherwise this would have been a huge waste of time...)

* * *

That night in the inn, Evan dreams of a mysterious yellow house instead of the blue-haired boy sipping tea in the room full of windows. The house is built in a style that he’s never even seen in any book before. It looks like it used to be inhabited, but there is no one inside at first glance. Evan wanders through the empty house until he notices something glimmering in the fireplace. He reaches in and pulls out a battered old book with a cover too faded to tell what color it had been previously, let alone its title. Never one to put a book away unread, Evan opens it up to a random page, but a noise behind him catches his attention before he could start reading. The curious figure with a rabbit head starts to say ~~“Buy the DLC”~~ something, but then the dream ends abruptly.

When Evan wakes up the next morning, he finds a familiar-looking page of an old spell book with the Gateway spell in his possession. After glancing at the spell and wondering how the piece of paper had materialized in his pocket overnight, Evan decides to put it away for later ( _like the next chapter_ ) because dealing with Pugnacius’s deception is the more pressing matter.


	9. Ch.3.4 - Roland Crane, Ace Attorney (Apparently)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the ka-tet (plus Pugnacius and Doloran) decide that if there will be a show-trial, let it be a spectacle that will be the talk of the town for days to come.

## Chapter Three: Something Old, Something Borrowed (Part Four)

**8am approx., The Dreaming Chamomile Inn, Goldpaw, Day Three**

When Evan and Lofty finally wake up the next morning, they can hear the loud voices of the sky pirates all the way up from the second-floor hallway as they make their way back down to the lobby. (No one else is staying at the inn at the moment, so they’re not being rude.) With a long yawn, Batu admits that it’s been a nice change of pace not having to be in charge of a base full of rowdy sky pirates for once (and also not having to worry about wyvern attacks). Traveling with Evan has been interesting—if nothing else—and he’s actually somewhat bummed at the thought of going back now...

Tani makes a hesitant noise, then blurts out that her dad (and Chingis and Khunbish) should stay in Evan’s kingdom with her and everyone else! Gökhan will be fine running the base on his own, and Batu can do so much more good here as an advisor to Evan about fighting and stuff. More importantly, Gerel and Sukhon (and her, but that’s implied) will miss him and his two favorite flunkies when they leave! Plus, it’s not like the Sky Pirate Council has ever respected him anyway...

Whatever Batu’s response to that may have been is cut off as Lofty hops onto a particularly creaky floorboard. The sky pirates’ highly personal conversation is quickly abandoned in favor of lightly teasing Evan and Lofty about being the last ones to wake up. Lofty fires back that he’s been enjoying every moment of sleeping on an actual bed and he refuses to feel sorry for it! When Evan actually does apologize for waking up last, Tani brushes him off and tells him not to worry about it. Waking up at the crack of dawn is just an ingrained habit for her and Batu (as seen in Roland’s journals from the _Lost Lord_ DLC). Batu explains that they’d be up that early back home in order to take the first patrols around the canyon in the morning. (The other sky pirates had a nasty habit of sleeping in when assigned for those shifts...) You never know when the wyverns might attack, after all.

Evan comments that having to be on high alert for an invasion at any time of the day and night must be a rough way to live. After reconsidering that statement for a second, Evan reasons that if he had that same amount of caution back in Ding Dong Dell, maybe he wouldn’t have been as caught off guard by Mausinger’s coup. Innocent people wouldn’t have died, and perhaps he might not have needed rescuing by Roland and Nella. Maybe she’d still be here...

Tani finally plucks up the courage to tell Evan that he hasn’t told either of them who that is yet, since he left all mention of her out of his explanations to either of them earlier. Three days has given Evan enough emotional distance to the point where he’s ready to talk about Nella, so the screen cuts to black as he sadly recaps the full events of Chapter One offscreen. Afterward, the sky pirates both offer their condolences for his loss. Batu in particular apologizes for being so harsh to Evan when they first spoke. He really lost everything that day, didn’t he?

Evan manages a teary smile as he says that he wishes that Tani and Batu could have met Nella. Thinking back to the encounter that proved to her how the outside world views the Sky Pirates, Tani mutters that she’s not so sure if that would have been a good idea. However, Evan insists that Nella would have liked both of them once she’d gotten to know them. After all, she had always taught him not to judge other people by their appearances, but instead to look at their hearts. Lofty dryly quips that she’d probably have something to say about Batu almost chucking Evan and Roland off a cliff, and it wouldn’t be anything good. Batu lets out an embarrassed chuckle, and Evan has to agree with Lofty there. However, Nella also taught him to try to see the best in people and not to hold grudges. Batu has to admit that she sounds like one hell of a lady, and tells Evan that he’d better stick to his final promise to her and build one hell of a kingdom. While Evan is distracted by Lofty whining about how hungry he is, Tani shoots Batu a look.

After Evan and Lofty head out to acquire some breakfast, Batu asks his daughter what that glare was all about. She asks if he’s finally seen the big similarity between himself and Evan yet, the thing they can both see that no one else can. Batu grumbles that he and Evan were trying to figure out her little riddle yesterday, with no conclusive results. Was the thing they share stubbornness? Determination? Following through on a plan when no one else believed that you could succeed? Tani concedes that they do share these qualities as well to some extent, but the real comparison she was trying to make was that both Batu and Evan can see the full potential of something, whether that’s an individual or a group of people, and that’s why they’re willing to give others a chance when no one else will. Batu initially scoffs that this, but Tani reminds him of all the sky pirates that he’s supported when the rest of the base turned on them, the outsiders that he’s spared when others were out for blood, and most importantly: her...Batu grumbles out a vague reply but is clearly still mulling on this even as Evan and Lofty return with breakfast.

* * *

Roland arrives a few minutes later with the strongest tea he could find, having found no legal loopholes that Pugnacius can use to get out of a public trial once they evoke a specific law. In between bites of dumpling, Evan asks if Roland is ready for said public trial once they accuse the Grand High Roller and his government of being corrupt. Roland hesitantly takes a sip of tea (he’s really more of a coffee person, but they don’t seem to have that here in Goldpaw), and confirms that he’s ready for a day in court. In fact, he found something very damning towards Pugnacuis and perhaps all of Goldpaw itself during his research. The screen cuts to black for a few seconds while he drops this revelation offscreen.

When it cuts back, the rest of the ka-tet is shocked by his discovery. Lofty remarks that this bit of information is certainly a game-changer. Batu exclaims that he knew Goldpaw was corrupt, but not on that level! Evan asks Roland if he’s one hundred percent certain that his assessment of the Original Blueprint and what it represents is correct, and Roland replies that he’s got multiple sources to prove it. (He’s fairly certain that Boddly only handed over the extra books to get rid of him faster.) This discovery has really put the idiosyncrasies of Goldpaw as a government and a society into an understandable context.

Roland tries to suggest that they only reveal this bombshell as a last resort if Pugnacius refuses to cooperate with them. This information may just be a convenient bargaining chip to them but revealing a secret this big to the public could be harmful to the people of Goldpaw, not just to Pugnacius and his government. Tani asks incredulously if he’s seriously suggesting that they just let everyone in Goldpaw continue to live a lie. Roland replies that ultimately, it’s not their problem. With a touch of coolness in his voice, Roland suggests that Evan take care of his own “kingdom”—aka the twenty or so people in tents out in a field whose well-being he’s directly responsible for as their king—before worrying about what happens to Goldpaw. Besides, this information might be more useful further down the line. There’s no reason to show their hand now when the reveal doesn’t benefit them at all.

Evan retorts that the people of Goldpaw deserve to know the whole truth about their kingdom! Even if the ka-tet doesn’t stand to gain anything from being truthful, it doesn’t mean that they should just let the people of Goldpaw be further exploited. His belief is that honesty is the best policy, even when the truth might be hard to accept. The awkward expressions that the rest of the ka-tet have in response suggest that they don’t quite see eye to eye with him in this instance to varying degrees... In particular, Roland clearly has a high degree of skepticism towards this but defers to Evan’s authority without further argument.

Once fully awake and properly fed, the ka-tet heads to the Hall of the Grand High Roller. As they enter the Throne Room, Pugnacius is in the middle of barking out orders for a scouting party to be sent to their “lumber mill” in the Forest of Niall, in order to investigate why the facility was reportedly abandoned last night. Captain Ya Pi argues that he doesn’t have enough soldiers to spare, not with the growing unease in the kingdom due to the latest tax increase. Street brawls have broken out among civilians over monetary disputes on multiple occasions, and that was before Lady Luck rolled a six for the third time in a row yesterday... The Mandarin snaps at him for insubordination—how dare a mere soldier speak to his king in this manner!—and Ya Pi fires back that as a lifelong citizen of Goldpaw, he won’t hear this kind of talk from a man who only arrived in this kingdom months ago and already acts like he is the Grand High Roller himself!

However, Pugnacius firmly shushes them both when he notices the ka-tet approaching. Quickly forcing his face into a more neutral expression, Pugnacius mockingly asks if their “investigation” yielded any results. Evan is not here for this bullshit.

> **Evan** : “Master Pugnacuis! Not only have you exploited Niall, someone who respected and trusted you as a friend, but you have also exploited your own people! The very people you’re supposed to serve! You should be ashamed of yourself!”
> 
> **Pugnacius** , nonchalant: “Where is your proof for all these wild, slanderous claims of yours? Did you find evidence of trickery? Some ingenious device somewhere inside Lady Luck perhaps?”

He and the Mandarin share a dark chuckle. At the far end of the throne platform, Ya Pi gives the two of them a cold look but doesn’t say anything.

Roland tells Pugnacius that he can drop the act. In the reworking, he doesn’t give the Grand High Roller any information about how much dirt they’ve already uncovered about him. Instead, he issues a final warning to Pugnacius: give Niall his forest back (and stop exploiting your citizens! adds Evan), or we will make the crimes committed by the government of Goldpaw known to its people. _All_ of the crimes. When Pugncaius continues to insists that he’s innocent “as the Mistress of Fortune herself will attest”, Roland replies that they’re willing to take that bet.

> **Roland** : “I invoke the Macaw Law, Article 2, Subsection IX: “Any person or persons who have made a case that they have been wronged by the state have a right to demand a public trial by Lady Luck.”

On the outside, The Mandarin expresses mild surprise that this outsider is quoting chapter and verse of Goldpaw law at them after spending just one night in the kingdom. But internally:

> **“The Mandarin”** : ‘ _Just who exactly is this man, and why does he keep on appearing...?_ ’ 

Even Ya Pi has dropped the facade of not listening in on the conversation and stares in disbelief at the brazen challenge these emissaries of the forest folk are making against his ruler. However, Pugnacius keeps up a perfect poker face as he accepts this challenge. As he does, an aura of dark energy is visible around the Grand High Roller for the briefest of moments. Pugnacius issues his final warning: if and when Lady Luck finds him innocent of all these charges brought against him, they will be punished for crimes against the state. Evan accepts these terms and the Mandarin directs them to come back to Fortune Square once the preparations for the trial are complete.

This suits the ka-tet just fine since they’ve got preparations of their own to make before the trial gets underway. Once they have exited the Throne Room, Evan turns to Roland with a shrug and says that they at least tried to reason with Pugnacius first. Roland concedes that the Grand High Roller is too high on a power trip to listen to any argument they could have made, so public shaming is the only way to go at this point. As they make their way through the square, he makes a mental note to plot out possible escape routes for afterward, just in case this whole thing goes south after the big reveal...

Back in the Throne Room, Ya Pi asks Master Pugnacius why he’s playing along with whatever schemes these outsiders are plotting. Surely this whole farce is all just a waste of time when he could be doing more important things, such as figuring out how to reduce the inevitable poverty and suffering that will surely befall the citizens of the kingdom due to yet another massive tax increase? Before the Mandarin can admonish the Captain for speaking out of turn again, Pugnacius retorts that there is a method to his madness here. Putting these troublemakers in their place should create quite a spectacle; one that will both distract the citizens from their financial woes and discourage any dissidents from rebellion. Ya Pi doesn’t answer, but the expression on his face as he turns away is doubtful.

Unseen by the captain, the purple aura around Master Pugnacius flares up again. However, the Mandarin notices it and breaks into a smug grin. A public exhibition of the Grand High Roller’s crimes, in the middle of the city? Perhaps this situation can be turned in his favor...

* * *

**10:15am approx., Fortune Square, Goldpaw, Day Three**

Evan, Lofty, and Roland have been watching the palace workers assemble the stage for the trial from the main street, in the off chance that Pugnacius has decided to pull a new trick from out of his sleeve. Meanwhile, Tani and Batu had been running around the kingdom, trying to persuade as many people as possible to come and watch “the trial of the century” unfold!

Once the sky pirates have informed the whole kingdom of the dramatic spectacle that they can’t afford to miss out on (possibly literally), they meet back up with Evan, Roland, and Lofty. Tani takes a moment to show Roland something on her Leafbook viewer, and he confirms that this will be useable as evidence before heading back to the inn to prepare for the main event. With the stage set and the players assembling, Tani asks Evan if he’s sure they’ll be able to pull this off. Pugnacius has staged a lot of armed palace guards all around the square...

Evan has zero doubt in his heart that they will succeed and justice will prevail. They already know at the outset that they’re in the right and Pugnacius is corrupt. With all the evidence they collected at the factory and the corroborating information that Roland dug up in the library last night, why shouldn’t they be able to convince people of the truth?

Batu cautions Evan that them being right doesn’t mean that Pugnacius won’t try and use his executive power as Goldpaw’s leader to override the truth and punish them anyway. Evan muses that’s probably why Roland made sure to invoke a public trial instead of confronting the Grand High Roller with all their evidence privately: the purpose of the trial is to show the citizens of Goldpaw themselves that their government is corrupt rather than arguing against Pugnacius—hence Batu and Tani’s assignment to gather as large a crowd of spectators as possible. Tani wonders if this is the kind of thing that Roland does in his world, as he seems to have taken to this situation like a duck to water. Evan comments that Roland’s been pretty adaptable in every situation they’ve gotten themselves into so far, but he does have to wonder what Roland’s world is like and why he’s been so darn secretive about it...

Speaking of Roland, he arrives for the trial in his three-piece suit. (In the reworking, this bit occurs before the start of the trial so that the entire ka-tet gets to react onscreen to Roland’s sudden wardrobe change instead of just Evan.) While the sky pirates and Lofty gawp at his strange attire, Evan asks him why he’s changed back into the suit from his world. Roland simply responds that this is a court of law, to everyone else’s confusion. (His secondary reason for an outfit swap is the fact that his “borrowed” greatcoat hasn’t been washed in three whole days; he’s not going to expose a government conspiracy in front of a whole kingdom in a mud-stained outfit smelling like old monster guts! It doesn’t matter if none of his former peers from law school or the eighth circuit would ever find out—it’s called having standards, no matter what kind of world one finds themselves in.)

(Outfit Change: Roland is going to be in his suit for the trial up until the end of the chapter because realistically he’s not going to get an opportunity to change back to his usual outfit in the reworking.)

Batu asks Roland if he enjoys being as vague as possible about everything all the time, and Roland retorts that not everyone likes to wear their heart on their sleeve. Before Batu can properly respond to that, a deep gong rings out from the square and signals that the trial is ready to commence. The player is given one last chance to save before Evan informs the Mandarin that the prosecution is ready.

* * *

The trial of the ka-tet v. Master Pugnacius (with the Mandarin presiding) commences. ( _In the reworking, the railings and the stage for the trial stay up in the square for the entirely of the sequence rather than disappearing mysteriously after an animated cutscene for no apparent reason. Was that a “no budget for extra assets in this scene” thing or something?_ ) Quite a large crowd has turned up to see their esteemed leader himself in the docket and the ensuing spectacle that will occur no matter which side wins. (If they can’t afford bread, the people will at least enjoy the circus.) A sharp eye can pick out the single Greenling among the crowd of dogfolk watching the trial play out. The few people who can afford Leafbook viewers are snapping pictures with the cameras.

The Mandarin’s bit about being a lowly civil servant thrust into an unfamiliar role would be rather heavy-handed foreshadowing if it had paid off sooner than the very end of the game. He prompts the prosecution to state their case, and Roland doesn’t even get through his opening statement of intent (to prove to the court—er, to the people of Goldpaw that their government has been defrauding them through lies and unfair gambling mechanics) before Pugnacius interrupts.

The Grand High Roller doesn’t admit to even the lower-level officials of his government being corrupt in the reworking, because why would he? ( _The crimes of even the least significant members reflect poorly on the entire administration, and he’s trying to not be seen as a corrupt figure!_ ) He instead argues that just because the ka-tet ran into the one gatekeeper who was guilty of racketeering on the side (He loudly assures the assembled audience that the individual in question has been stripped of his rank and thrown in prison, to some murmurs of approval.) doesn’t mean that the entire government is corrupt!

Roland has a retort involving straw men and logical fallacies on the tip of his tongue but internally reminds himself that there was never any chance of a “fair” trial. This is essentially a theater rather than a courtroom as the “judge and jury” is literally controlled by his opponent. The only way of "winning" this “case” is to appeal to the court of public opinion and win over the audience. And the audience is here because they were promised a spectacle...which requires him thinking less like a proper lawyer and more like the actor he wanted to be in high school.

As Pugnacius tries to counter-accuse the ka-tet of mudslinging and attacking his credibility with nonsensical slander, Roland instead turns towards the assembled Goldpaw citizens and implores them directly to let him at least present the evidence of his argument before dismissing him as their leader has just done. After all, why else would Pugnacius be trying so hard to silence him and his peers if there wasn’t at least some truth to what they have to say...?

This certainly piques the audience’s attention. When Roland presents Key Evidence #1: the Signed Instructions, there are even a few dramatic gasps from the audience, even though most of them are too far away to see what’s actually written on the document. Luckily, Roland has thought of a solution for that issue beforehand: before submitting the evidence to the Mandarin, he has Evan take the Signed Instructions and show it to individual members of the crowd in order for them to read it with their own eyes during his explanation to the group at large.

[ **Gameplay Change** : All story-based key items now disappear from the player’s inventory when “used” as long as the ka-tet has no need for them in the future. The evidence from this trial is still clogging up the player’s inventory at the end of the game, along with a few other items they have no reason to be hanging onto.]

Pugnacius immediately jumps to accusing the ka-tet of fabrication of evidence and forgery, despite his initial outburst betraying his surprise at the ka-tet being able to get their hands on that document. Roland counters that these instructions bear the official letterhead of the Grand High Roller’s office and Pugnacius’s personal signature, neither of which the ka-tet has the means to replicate. To demonstrate their authenticity, Evan also has a similar official document with the letterhead and signature for comparison—a letter to Boddly warning her that the Library’s monthly taxes are overdue. (The librarian was only too happy to part with it.) Lofty follows along after him with the ka-tet's Leafbook viewer, showing a message from one of the engineers from Broadleaf named in the Signed Instructions who confirms that she worked on the "Goldpaw Dice Upgrade Initiative" and didn't even get paid for her contribution! As the Kingmaker shows this off, Roland explains that this testimony further corroborates the legitimacy of the document.

To further Roland’s point, Tani takes center stage in front of Lady Luck to give a live demonstration of Key Evidence #2: one of the Trick Dice created from the blueprint on the Signed Instructions. Tani shows the crowd en masse how the dice work before also moving into the crowd as Evan did so that the citizens can see firsthand that this trick dice is exactly the same as the ones used in the casino. (This also leads to Tani appearing in many people’s Leafbook posts along the way, which start trending worldwide once the events of the trial have concluded...)

Flustered, Pugnacius demands to know how the ka-tet got their hands on that dice and accuses them of theft of government property. Taking advantage of his poor choice of words, Roland points out that the state-run casino and the crooked gatekeeper had these same dice in their possession due to their connections to the government. Could Pugnacius be admitting that his administration has been distributing rigged dice? The crowd gasps and mutters uneasily as Pugnacius tries to stammer out a response. Batu begrudgingly has to admit that Roland might be cryptic and smug at times, but he’s pulling off an impressive level of showmanship here while working the crowd. The Mandarin hastily tries to restore order to this facsimile of a court and the Grand High Roller composes himself.

Seemingly at an impasse, both parties agree to Lady Luck rolling in order to determine which side is telling the truth. Time for the main event. As the Mandarin sets the conditions for the roll, the ka-tet get into position: Batu slips Lofty the remote control while Evan and Tani make their way through the crowd over to Pugnacius’s docket.

The crowd erupts into confusion and dismay as the “sacred dice” keeps rolling as Lofty and Pugnacius fight for control with their respective remotes. Roland presents the unfolding scene to the crowd as Key Evidence #3: the Remote Control which the Grand High Roller has been using to manipulate Lady Luck. This is Evan’s cue for him, Runcible, Wiff-Waff, and Mutton-Bane (aka the only plot mandatory higgledies) to shove against one side the docket as hard as they can. This sudden movement causes a startled Pugnacius to drop his remote control, which falls neatly into Tani’s waiting hands.

Over the shouting crowd, Roland recounts to the crowd how the ka-tet discovered the facility in which all the fake dice were made in order to gain another remote for Lady Luck for the purposes of this demonstration. The indistinct voices of the crowd erupt in anger as they collectively put two and two together and realize why their taxes have gotten so high. Pugnacius’s face fills with utter panic as he realizes just how far in the doghouse he is right now that he’s inadvertently shown his hand. The guards posted around the square exchange uncertain looks and tighten their grip on their weapons nervously. The Mandarin’s expression is unreadable. The tension in the air could boil over at any minute now...

Roland glances over one last time at Evan, just in case he’s had a change of heart about this final reveal. The young king's determined expression as he glares at the flustered Grand High Roller indicates that he has not. Bracing himself, Roland takes a deep breath before announcing that the ka-tet has one final piece of evidence left to present. The design in the Signed Instructions was reverse engineered and modified from an earlier model of rigged dice: the one seen in Key Evidence #4: the Original Blueprint for the first dice ever made for Lady Luck by the council of gamblers that founded Goldpaw.

As the crowd erupts into shouts of shock and confusion yet again, Batu hops off the docket with the Original Blueprint plus a written list of books in the library that Roland used to confirm the age of the document and its writers—and thus its authenticity. He’s able to shove his way past the crowd (and a few government ministers who are brave enough to try and snatch the evidence right out of his hands) before delivering the document and list of citations over to a dumbfounded Ya Pi (voted “probably the least corrupt government official in Goldpaw...hopefully?” by the ka-tet). The Captain accepts these papers in a daze, clearly just as floored by this reveal as everyone else present.

Somewhat sarcastically, Roland asks the crowd not to judge Pugnacius too harshly for rigging the dice...when these blueprints reveal that this has been what every leader of Goldpaw has done since the founding of the country. It turns out all that talk of luck and fortune was always a lie: the game has always been rigged from the start. Pugnacius is just another cog in a system that has always been corrupt and exploitative since its inception.

With all pretext of “fairness” thrown out the window (along with everything they believed about their kingdom as well), the distraught crowd now turns their attention and anger to their ruler. The Mandarin pretends to be shocked like everyone else, and Roland can’t help a bit of smugness creeping into his voice as he asks Pugnacius if he’s got anything to say in his defense. A familiar purple aura solidifies around the Grand High Roller, intensifying as he tries to respond.

> **Pugnacius** : “It was all for Goldpaw...I had to make this kingdom richer than any other...Had to...break the cycle...”

The tendrils of dark energy forming around him explode outwards, alarming the crowd—the darkness now visible enough for even the most magic-inept of beings to perceive. As people begin to panic, Evan pulls out the Locket and wonders how exactly this seemingly-normal bauble is supposed to help them deal with Pugnacius in this state. It doesn’t seem to be reacting to the dark energies he’s giving off; perhaps Niall was mistaken...

With everyone in the vicinity focused on the Grand High Roller’s breakdown, the Mandarin dryly observes that the bond between Pugnacius and his people has finally weakened enough that his Kingmaker should be making an appearance right about... now. Sure enough, Longfang lands on the roof of the Grand High Roller’s Hall with a loud thud and the smarter members of the crowd start running for their lives in the face of an irate Kingmaker. As Roland internally wonders why Lofty couldn’t have looked more like that, the Mandarin teleports behind Pugnacius with a burst of dark purple energy. He shifts back into his true form of ~~Ben Kingsley~~ ~~Guy Pearce~~ ~~Tony Leung~~ Doloran before tearing the Grand High Roller’s Kingsbond right out of his chest mid-villainous monologue. 

(Across the square, Roland is hit by a very brief but painful headache out of nowhere. Due to the boss fight that occurs afterward, he doesn’t even get time to notice that it immediately disappears the second that Doloran portals out of there...)

* * *

As Pugnacius hits the ground, unresponsive, Longfang reacts to the severance of their Kingsbond with even more thrashing about and stomping. With fragments of roofing tile raining down on their heads and the roar of the now-unbonded Kingmaker drowning out all other noise, the rest of the crowd has figured out that now would probably be a good time to start running. The ka-tet (minus Roland) attempt to rush Doloran before he escapes, but they’re too late to prevent his departure.

> **Tani** : “Who the hell was that creep, and what did he just do to Pugnacius!?
> 
> **Batu** , looking upwards: “Girlie, I think we’ve got bigger problems right now...”

Longfang goes ballistic and leaps into the air before hurdling down towards Fortune Square. The ka-tet have just enough time to drag Pugnacuis’s prone form away before Longfang lands right on top of Lady Luck, smashing the statue and crushing the wooden trial stage into bits through the force of the impact. (Luckily one of the other smaller statues shields the ka-tet from getting a face full of splinters and metal bits.)

The palace guards are all knocked off their feet in the aftermath of Longfang’s descent, so the ka-tet are now the only remaining obstacle between the corrupted Kingmaker and his target. Despite everything that Pugnacius has put them through, the ka-tet refuse to abandon him to whatever fate Longfang has in store of him without a fight. With nowhere to run, the ka-tet attempt to stand their ground against the advancing Longfang, but a wave of darkness erupts from the Realmwrecker and fills their vision before they can be crushed and/or burnt alive.

The ka-tet find themselves magically teleported to a volcano for some reason. (The Grand High Roller is nowhere to be seen.) Roland wonders out loud why they’re not in the square anymore. In the reworking, Lofty doesn’t know why they’ve been teleported to a volcanic pocket dimension either—he snarks at Roland that instead of asking about why they are here, the ka-tet should be asking how they’re supposed to stop a rogue Realmwrecker from going postal on its own kingdom!

Batu asks how the ka-tet are meant to stop a freaking Realmwrecker all on their own, when Kingmakers are supposed to have the strength of armies. Lofty immediately explains the boss mechanics for the Kingmaker fights. Longfang’s introductory boss animation happens after this round of exposition from Lofty ( _so that the player isn't getting the same exposition on Highmakers twice_ ). Otherwise, the fight is the same as in the original game, aside from the boss having more HP since Tani and Batu’s new charged range attacks plus the Water elemental bow dropped from the last boss mean that the player will be dealing more damage to the boss even when he’s out of melee range.


	10. Ch.3.5 - Win Some, Lose Some

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which diplomatic incidents cannot be solved just by beating up a giant dragon but people are beginning to believe in Evan all the same.

## Chapter Three: Something Old, Something Borrowed (Part Five)

**11:33am approx., Fortune Square, Goldpaw, Day Three**

Upon Longfang’s defeat, the ka-tet are returned to Fortune Square. Pugnacius lies prone at their feet, seemingly unaffected by the battle. The detritus from the Kingmaker’s landing still litters the area, but Longfang himself is no longer present. Evan and Lofty guess that he’s calmed down and no longer a threat to Goldpaw. (For now, at least…) Roland hopes that they’re both right; the ka-tet got lucky with the appearance of the higmakers, but he wouldn’t want to have to fight Longfang a second time.

Speaking of their fight, Lofty chalks their earlier experience with the sudden appearance of a convenient boss fight pocket dimension up to his Kingmaker powers unconsciously kicking in for the ka-tet to safely fight Realmwreckers without anyone else around like Pugnacius getting hurt. I mean, it’s not like his Kingmaker powers came with an instruction manual! ( _Lofty is right about the pocket dimensions being the result of the powers of a Kingmaker, it just so happens that he’s not_ that specific _Kingmaker..._ )

Unfortunately for them, defeating the Realmwrecker won’t be the solution to all of Goldpaw’s problems. Ya Pi and a train of Pugnacuis’s retainers arrive to retrieve their leader, still comatose and giving off faint wisps of purple smoke. Without a word, the retainers lift up their fallen leader before carrying him past the ka-tet and into the palace. Ya Pi gives the ka-tet a curt nod of acknowledgment as he passes by, but otherwise their presence goes unremarked upon by the remaining Goldpaw government. (Evan notes that the army captain was carrying all of their evidence from the trial—minus the Leafbook viewer—not just the Original Blueprint and associated bibliography. So perhaps their decision to trust him was justified.) The main doors of the palace slam shut with a heavy thud in their wake, followed by the furious clicking of locks.

While Batu sourly grumbles at their coldness, Roland is just glad that whatever resentment the soldiers might hold towards them has been superseded by their sense of duty towards their leader. In fact, it might be a good idea to get the hell out of here before they change their minds…

The metallic clinking of armor heralds the arrival of Goldpaw soldiers on the balconies of the palace. Tani observes that every door, window, or other possible points of entry to the Hall of the Grand High Roller have a sentry posted by it now. Lofty snarks that this probably means that they won’t be able to ask Pugnacius for Niall’s forest to be returned to him anytime soon. Mirroring her dad, Tani mutters grumpily that the least they could have done was to thank the ka-tet for saving their kingdom from Longfang…

Now that the rampaging Realmwrecker has been taken care of, some Goldpaw citizens are starting to cautiously trickle back into the square to survey the damage and see what has become of their leader. Their reactions are mixed; some people bemoan the destruction of Lady Luck (as a sacred idol, a tourist attraction, or both) while others bitterly approve of the removal of the machine that Pugnacuis has been using to bleed them dry financially. Some of the younger dogfolk pick up chunks of debris and turn their eyes towards the palace… but a few well-aimed crossbow bolts landing inches from their feet once they get too close convince them to abandon this idea for now.

With the main target of their ire locked up in his ornate but heavily fortified palace, some of the crowd begin to turn their attention towards the outsiders who just caused a big scene resulting in their own Kingmaker attacking Goldpaw. Roland tries to subtly nudge everyone towards the exit of the square, but a few dogfolk block their escape route and start accusing them of being foreign agents (which is technically true) who made all that stuff up about Goldpaw’s founders being corrupt in order to disrupt the peace. Evan tries to clarify that they just wanted the people of Goldpaw to know the truth about their own government, but the disgruntled citizens are not having it.

> **Goldpaw Citizen 1** : “No one asked for your meddling, outsider! Now we’re leaderless and Kingmaker-less!”
> 
> **Goldpaw Citizen 2** : “Yeah, why couldn’t you have just minded your own business? Everything was just fine before you showed up to spread your lies around!”
> 
> **Batu** , incredulously: “‘Ev’ry thin’ was just fine’? What about th’ fact that yer high an’ mighty leader was robbing ye blind!?”
> 
> **Goldpaw Citizen 3** , sarcastically: “Oh, that’s rich coming from a Sky Pirate! Isn’t robbing people your whole schtick?”
> 
> **Tani** , advancing on him: “Oi, you’d better watch your mouth pal, or I’ll—“

Roland holds her back before she can take a swing at the guy, but more and more Goldpaw folk are starting to turn a caustic eye towards them… Before the situation can devolve into a mob rushing the ka-tet, a smokebomb-like device explodes and fills the air with thick clouds of fungal spores, blinding everyone. Silvan, the greenling who witnessed the whole trial, quickly herds the ka-tet out of the square and then out of the city to safety. Along the way, he assures them that the spores aren’t harmful to humans, grimalkin, or dogfolk.

> **Lofty** , with a cough: “Oi, what about me!?”

Once they’ve reached a relatively safe zone in the Calmlands, Silvan explains that he came to Goldpaw with messages for Pugnacius and the ka-tet from Niall. However, he arrived just as the trial was about to begin, so he decided to wait until afterwards to talk to both parties. But then the events of the trial played out, and then Longfang attacked…

Leaving Goldpaw in chaos doesn’t sit right with Evan, but Roland convinces him that there was nothing else they could have done. Getting into a fight with those Godlpaw citizens wouldn’t have helped anyone; removing themselves from the immediate situation was the best course of action for themselves and Goldpaw. Tani’s still pissed that those people were trying to place the blame on them when it was Pugnacuis and the Mandarin who were cheating everyone out of their money! Roland—speaking from experience—explains to her that some people just won’t take a massive change to their worldview like that well, even if the end result ultimately benefits them. They did just invalidate the entire cultural beliefs of a whole kingdom, that's going to take some time for anyone to process…

> **Roland** , glancing over at a morose Evan: ‘ _I tried to warn you that there would be consequences for meddling…_ ’

Batu also picks up on Evan’s unhappiness, and for once tries to assure him that he did the right thing by telling everyone the truth. What the people of Goldpaw chose to do with that information is their business now, it’s out of Evan’s hands. Evan reluctantly agrees that he has a point, and Lofty asks Silvan what Niall wanted to tell them all in an attempt to change the subject. Niall’s message to the ka-tet was simply to return to his forest once they’d confronted Pugnacius, so Evan casts Travel and brings the messenger—awestruck at witnessing Old Magic so casually performed right in front of him—along with them.

* * *

At the entrance to the Forest of Niall, the ka-tet can see that all of the eviction notices have been stripped from the trees. Some of the sky pirates are scattered around, aiding the greenlings in the process of breaking down one of the massive trees into usable timber. Chingis and Sukhon are hacking away at a log with saws (that are clearly _not_ borrowed from the forest folk, judging by the red and gold embellishments on the handles) until Batu gets the former’s attention. Silvan excuses himself to go and seek out his leader, passing right by Gerel who is deep in conversation with some of his kinfolk about the plants of the forest and ways to trade them with Evermore in a sustainable manner that benefits both parties.

Persha and Floyd pass by with huge baskets full of moss; Lofty calls to the latter and asks him if he expects the current denizens of Evan’s future kingdom to eat moss salad or whatever without kicking up a fuss. Both grimalkin laugh and Persha informs the Kingmaker that this moss is for filler in construction work, not for eating! The ka-tet exchange confused looks and decided to seek out Niall for an explanation.

They arrive at Sunnypatch Pond just as Silvan is regaling Niall and the others with the epic conclusion to his tale: the ka-tet’s victory over Longfang! While the other greenlings are floored that Evan and his crew managed to take down a Realmwrecker, Niall expresses his surprise that the ka-tet would go to all this trouble to expose Pugnacius’s fraud and save a forest for someone they barely know. Evan declares that they couldn’t just let the powers that be of Goldpaw cheat not only their own citizens but also a group without the protection of a Kingmaker! Even if admittedly it has landed them into a bit of a dilemma…

As Evan trails off, Niall regards him thoughtfully. Meanwhile, Tani asks Roland (out of earshot from Evan—or so she thinks) what Goldpaw will do once Pugnacius has recovered from his involuntary Kingsbond removal. Will he go after them in retaliation for revealing the truth to his people? Roland replies that Pugnacius will have to deal with the chaos in his own kingdom first—he might not be the Grand High Roller for much longer once word spreads throughout Goldpaw about the deep-set corruption he and all of their past leaders have been complicit in. And if he does get replaced by another person or persons, they may not look favorably on the ka-tet’s intervention either.

Evan, having been listening in inadvertently, lets out a tiny sigh. This, plus his ears drooping sadly, catch Roland’s attention. He quickly explains to Tani (and Evan indirectly) that instead of dwelling on this, Evan should use the time he’s been given to build up his own kingdom and plan his next move. The outcome, while not perfect, has bought them some time. Plus, defeating a Realmwecker like that will undoubtedly give Evan some clout as a king when word spreads about the ka-tet's victory over Longfang. Tani, thinking back to all of the Leafbook viewers that she saw during the trial, muses that she might have a way to speed that up…

Batu, who has also been listening in on their conversation, crosses his arms and shuts his eyes in concentration for a moment before coming to a decision. As he grabs Chingis and steps out without a word, Niall approaches the rest of the ka-tet and brings them up to speed on what’s been happening in the forest while they’ve been away. The Greenlings may not be fighters, but neither were the factory workers and Niall’s folk had the advantage of numbers. Once the rest of the factory workers had been driven out of the forest for good, the Greenlings sealed off the factory with magic so that no one but them could get back in before beginning to dismantle the machinery.

Roland asks if that might be a bit preemptive, as the ka-tet haven’t actually gotten Niall’s forest back from Pugnacius yet. With a shrug, Niall claims that he has no interest in upholding any agreement with someone who’s just looking to use his people and him as a source of profit. By the laws of the land far older than those of Goldpaw, the Grand High Roller’s deception automatically means that any claim he had to Niall’s Forest is forfeit. From what the ka-tet has uncovered, it seems as though Pugnacius has always been following in the vein of his predecessors, after all.

Evan protests that Pugnacius clearly has been acting under the Mandarin’s influence for some time, and asks him to at least hear the Grand High Roller out before severing all ties for good. Speaking of that creep, Tani asks Niall if he’s ever heard of anyone matching the description of the mysterious Kingsbond thief. Niall doesn’t know anything about Doloran and the Horned One yet in the reworking. ( _All of that exposition will be moved to the next chapter for pacing purposes, as this chapter has gone on for long enough._ ) However, he does know that a dark wizard powerful enough to rip a Kingsbond right out of someone in a perfectly intact state like it was a mere party trick is bad news indeed.

But first, the reason that Niall sent a messanger to meet the ka-tet in Goldpaw in the first place: the leader of the Greenlings has got a big surprise for them all. Making a guess at this "surprise”, Roland asks if it has to do with the tools and materials that have been salvaged from the factory. Clearly enjoying messing with the impatient ka-tet, Niall gives a cheeky vague answer that can be summarized as “maybe”. Lofty snaps at him to quit being so cryptic and explain just what’s been going on, but Niall retorts that it’ll be easier to just show everyone before heading out towards the forest’s exit.

On the way out, there are some optional dialogues with Evan’s current citizens: Persha is worried about Lady Pekinese and the other Goldpaw citizens now that the kingdom is in a state of panic, Floyd’s been feeling inspired by Evan’s great accomplishments since leaving Ding Dong Dell to make some strides in his own personal growth, Sukhon wants to come back to the forest later to check out all the native fauna, and Gerel remarks that they’re not going to be as isolated in Evan’s new kingdom as she initially feared. Leaving the forest via the exit to the World Map or Vacate launches the player right into the final set of cutscenes for this chapter.

* * *

Niall and the rest of the ka-tet catch up with Batu and Chingis just in time for everyone to witness the construction of Evan’s new kingdom underway together. Niall explains to the shocked ka-tet that he was responsible for organizing all the Sky Pirates and ex-Dellians and putting them to work. With a suspicious look, Tani folds her arms and asks him what the catch here is: judging by how far along the kingdom is, Niall couldn’t have known the outcome of the trial when they started building. Sheepishly, Niall replies that should the Greenlings end up cutting ties with Goldpaw, they’ll need another kingdom with a Kingmaker to ally with for protection. Evan may have a Kingmaker, but he’s short a proper kingdom…and a whole lot of other things one needs to be a proper king.

With that in mind, Niall has a proposition for him: in exchange for going above and beyond in providing the building materials and labor for the new kingdom plus favorable terms in an alliance with the Greenlings, Niall is asking for the official position of Minister of Finance in Evan’s new kingdom. He says he's never held a proper political office before, but he should be involved more in Evan's kingdom if he's going to stake the safety of his kinfolk on them. Before Roland can protest that first of all, Niall and Evan should have set the terms of this agreement before Niall started anything and secondly, Evan really should think twice about having a being so fiscally irresponsible that he bet (and lost) his entire territory on a dice game (rigged or not) responsible for the finances of his whole kingdom, Evan has already accepted his deal. (The rest of the ka-tet exchange uneasy looks in the background.)

As Batu and Chingus briefly disappear to find Khunbish (they find him napping in the shade rather than getting any work done; he protests that he was merely taking a short break before being rudely awoken by his Boss shouting in his ear), Niall promises to consult the Forest Guardians again in order to determine the identity of the Kingsbond thief and what his agenda could be. Tani complains that their last bit of “help” from these Forest Guardians (the Locket) didn’t end up being useful at all in Goldpaw. Niall isn’t worried—magical trinkets can be fickle like that. He claims that the Locket will reveal its true purpose sooner or later.

Tani remains unconvinced as her father and his two lieutenants return. Batu has an announcement of his own to make: after everything that he’s seen over the past few days, especially the part where they took down a freaking Realmwrecker (Khunbish had let out a particularly loud squawk of disbelief when Batu had recounted that part of the story), it looks like they’ll be joining Evan in his new kingdom after all. Batu proclaims that Evan might not be all that impressive of a king right now, but if he keeps up this rapid growth of his combat and leadership abilities, he’ll be king of the world before everyone knows it! And Batu wants to be there when it happens.

Of course if Batu believes in him, then Chingis and Khunbish are ready to follow Evan to the ends of the world as well! (Although neither seems as enthusiastic about it as their Boss does quite yet.) Roland is surprised (and a bit concerned) at this seemingly sudden turn of events, but Tani has a huge smug grin on her face since she saw her father’s change of heart coming a mile away. Lofty looks on approvingly and Niall feels reassured in his gamble to throw his chips in with this young man who has charmed the fearsome Cloud Snake. Evan is touched by this gesture and appoints Batu as the kingdom’s official Minister of Defense.

Since Evan seems to be just giving out fancy titles now, Tani excitedly asks him what she’s going to be Minister of. Her face falls a bit when he sheepishly replies that he’ll have to think of something before she boldly declares that she’ll just have to declare herself Minister of Communication if she's going to be promoting Evermore on Leafbook. No one else volunteers, so Evan declares the position to be hers for the taking.

With that dilemma resolved for the moment, Evan turns to Roland. Thinking about his own responsibilities back home, Roland offers to be Evan’s (easily replaceable, in case he gets the chance to leave) advisor, but Evan has made up his mind to appoint him to be his Chief Consul instead.

> **Evan** : “I’m no politician, Roland. I shall need your help.”
> 
> **Roland** , with a grimace: ‘ _A king who isn’t a politician!? … Yeah, we’re going to have to work on that…_ ’

Still somewhat hesitant (since he’s still trying to make it back to his own world eventually), Roland accepts his new position.

* * *

Now that all of that has been taken care of, Lofty butts in with a much more important question: what is Evan going to call his new kingdom? They can’t just go around calling it the Kingdom of “Name To Be Determined” forever now, can they? With a chuckle, Evan replies that he has thought of something…but before he can say anything to the ka-tet, Batu decides that this is something that the rest of Evan’s kingdom should hear as well.

The animated cutscene begins with Batu getting the attention of all present by shouting at the top of his lungs for everyone to be quiet and listen to King Evan’s speech. Ears still ringing from Batu screaming a few feet away from him, Evan freezes like a deer in headlights at being put on the spot like this so suddenly at first. He then takes a deep breath and improvises:

> **Evan** : “T-Thank you all for being here today. I’ve decided to call our new kingdom Evermore, after an ancient story about a great kingdom whose people were so happy that they wished for it to last forever. That… that was the favorite story of a dearest friend of mine, and it’s a very imposing expectation to live up to…”

Tani whispers to Roland if this “dearest friend” is meant to be Nella, and he shrugs back. It’s not like Evan seems to have had a lot of other friends back in Ding Dong Dell whom it could be…

> **Evan** , cont.: “… But if we all work together, we will build a beautiful, bountiful kingdom where everyone can live happily ever after! It won’t be easy, but I have faith in you that we can succeed, just as I hope you all will place your faith in me. This is where it all begins… Here and now… Here’s to the start of our new kingdom!”

The ragtag crowd roars in approval, and the rest of the ka-tet are suitably impressed with their king. Roland has a proud smile on his face as his closing monologue begins:

> **Roland** : ‘ _As first addresses as a new leader go, that wasn’t half bad - especially since Evan did it all off the top of his head! Heh, he’s already a better speechwriter and orator than some career politicians I know. (Although that isn’t saying much.) Give him some time and a bit of coaching on public speaking, and Evan will be better at addressing his country than I was._
> 
> _...er, am. Than I am._
> 
> _I think I’m starting to get too used to this world—this might be a problem._
> 
> _Roland Crane, Chief Consul of Evermore. Heh, it looks like I’ve been demoted. Well, I can’t just leave this world now, even if I knew how. Speech-making skills aside, there’s still a lot that Evan still needs to learn about running a country. And he’s certainly not going to get that knowledge from Niall or Batu..._
> 
> _...But what about my own country? Has the same amount of time passed there as it has here? Does everyone think I’m dead? Has Tucker already been sworn in? Will the people who tried to have me killed get him as well? Will—_
> 
> _Oh god, Will! What if my death wasn’t enough and whoever tried to have me killed goes after him as well? What about—?_
> 
> _...okay, calm down and focus. If there are all-powerful dragons and magic spells in this world, then it stands to reason that there’s got to be someone or something that can get me back to my world. There was that book in the Goldpaw library about other worlds...and of course it would have to be back in the kingdom where we just publicly embarrassed the standing government and probably pissed off a fair majority of the locals as well!_
> 
> _Maybe I should be tutoring Evan in foreign diplomacy before we work on public speaking..._
> 
> _Alright, next chance I get, I have to get back there somehow and check out that book. It’s a long shot, but that’s been my only lead so far. Maybe whatever magic spell or device can take me back to my world can also bring me back as well. That way I’m not leaving Evan permanently but I can still deal with my own responsibilities without anyone from this world being the wiser. I’ll manage; I’ve always been great at multitasking..._ ‘

* * *

The third Ferdinand dream sequence will actually require some bigger changes this time since Evan doesn’t know about Doloran’s plans of (supposed) world conquest at this point in the reworking. Ferdinand comments on Evan’s apparent unhappiness despite Evermore finally beginning to take shape. Evan managed to put on a convincing air of confidence in front of all his subjects for his big speech, but now that he’s in the privacy of his own dreams (sort of...) he confesses that his worries over Goldpaw, the Mandarin (or whoever that was), and how that will all affect Evermore are currently overshadowing his happiness at the moment.

It’s just not fair; his kingdom just got _a name_ , and already he has to deal with the turmoil that he’s accidentally caused in the closest neighboring nation that doesn’t hate him (yet...); plus attempting to mend the broken relationship between Niall and Pugnacius (all the while protecting the former and his followers from potential retaliation from the latter and any other outside threats, and attempting to figure out what exactly happened to the latter to make him like this in the first place); plus trying to discover the identity of the Kingsbond thief before he strikes again; plus—

Holding up a hand, Ferdinand firmly tells Evan to stop right there and take a deep breath before he works himself into a panic attack. Once Evan has calmed down, the mysterious boy encourages him to take things one step at a time and turn to his friends for help. No one person can solve the world’s problems on their own, and sometimes reaching out to others can be an overwhelming challenge in its own right. Ferdinand also reminds Evan that as much as he’s struggling with everything in his life, he ought to also do his best to support his friends in their own struggles. After all, he should have their backs just as they have his.

Speaking of friends, Evan wonders out loud if he should have listened to Roland and not tried to rock the boat too much in Goldpaw after all... With a laugh, the other boy admits that this is going to sound contradictory, but it is possible for Evan to trust in his friends while still following his own heart. He’s the king around here, after all. Evan responds that that does seem paradoxical at first, but he gets what Ferdinand means. As his last piece of advice, the blue-haired boy reminds Evan that things might look dire at the moment, but there’s always time to turn the situation around. Ferdinand peaces out, and then the chapter ends with the Save Screen.


	11. Ch.4.1 - How to Succeed at Running a Kingdom (Without Really Trying)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kingdom Building gets an expansion, Martha doesn't like her new neighbors, and the road to world peace starts at home.

## Chapter Four: One Nation, Underdog (Part One)

( _In general, the problem with optional content is in the name: it is presumed to be disconnected from the main story, therefore a player who is not immersed enough in the game to care is likely to skip it. A well-written game can make the player want to do all this optional content if they are invested in the story enough. A well-designed game can entice the player to complete all the side content if the reward at the end seems to be worth all the time and effort. A game with both might weave the main story and side stories in together so well that the player can’t tell what is optional content or not but is enjoying themselves too much to care._

 _Unfortunately,_ Revenant Kingdom _fails to do any of these in regards to its side content. The Kingdom Building mechanic is introduced right after the main villain’s introduction, his (assumed) motivation, and some motivation for Evan to go after him. (Although taking down Doloran is not Evan’s first priority as of yet, most players already know how a JRPG works.) The gameplay doesn’t reflect this shift in priorities after this important plot-related event when it comes to who gets recruited to come and live in Evermore. How will the addition of schoolteachers and fashion designers help in building a force that will be able to overcome Doloran? Therefore, the process of building up Evermore and recruiting seemingly random people to join is going to seem like busy-work when the (seemingly) final boss is out there, just waiting to be fought._

_This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if the “optional content” wasn’t an important supplement to the main story. Building up a kingdom to fulfill his promise to Nella has been Evan’s goal for the past two chapters, and this remains his primary driving motivation throughout most of the game. Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn’t support this at all, prioritizing the main quest after these mandatory tutorials and relegating all the Kingdom Building and Management aspects to the background. The only mandatory interactions with the system (leveling up the kingdom during several story events occur mostly to make sure that pre-rendered cutscenes take place in the correct environments._

_From a story perspective, the Kingdom Building system as a game mechanic exists to show Evan’s growth as a ruler, and its execution in-game…doesn’t do that in an effective manner. Although many characters thus far have warned Evan that building a kingdom is hard work, Evermore pretty much runs itself once Evan has created some basic infrastructure. Even though the player does have to do some minimal Kingdom Building to get access to the final boss (minimum of fifty citizens needed to get to the end of the game), they could go most of the game without interacting with what should be a very important mechanic story-wise if they have no motivation to do so._

_That’s not great, especially since one of the stated purposes of this reworking is to make Evan’s character arc about growing into a position of leadership via concrete examples of political experience instead of his “aura of kingly-ness” that convinces others that he’s in charge (despite his age and air of naiveté at times). That growth will be connected to the Kingdom Management minigame on a more meaningful level in the reworking, so the game's optional content will also need some tweaking to support this._

_This lack of story/gameplay integration is the biggest problem with the optional content in_ Revenant Kingdom _, and fixing that disconnect would be the most impactful way to get players to get more invested in the story. In the reworking, Niall’s expository scene on Doloran and the Horned One has been cut from the end of Chapter Three so that the introduction to the Kingdom Building mechanic wouldn’t be dismissed afterward as “sidequest stuff” the player has to get through in order to get to the “real” story. Keeping Doloran as a mysterious figure for the time being builds suspense and intrigue without distracting the player from the task they are trying to accomplish at the moment._ )

[ **Gameplay Change** : In order to maximize player investment in building and maintaining Evermore, the Kingdom Building mechanic will be more tied into the story via the events of the main story directly affecting Evermore and vice versa. The mechanics will get more difficult and complex as the story goes on, integrating story and gameplay to reflect on Evan’s struggles of ruling a kingdom during a tumultuous time in the history of his world.] ( _This drives the player to emphasize with Evan as a character as they experience the same struggles he does to build and maintain Evermore._

 _As for a story reason to encourage the player to build up Evan's new kingdom…_ )

* * *

**8am approx., Throne Room, Ding Dong Dell Castle, Day Five**

King Mausinger is initially shocked that Evan—that puerile, pampered princeling—has apparently won a battle against Longfang of Goldpaw when Vermine breaks the news. However, he quickly regains his composure and states that he’s certain that the boy has just gotten lucky, or got some seasoned warriors to do it for him and took all the credit afterward. In the background, a white-furred mouse in a yellow maid dress stops polishing a nearby light fixture to listen in on their conversation. Knights and architects walk by in the foreground, as the castle interior is clearly in the middle of a dramatic makeover.

The Chancellor asks what is to be done about Evermore—he too never thought that Leonhard’s sniveling progeny would be capable of taking down a Kingmaker of all things! Mausinger scoffs that the kid may have found an uninhabited patch of land and some strong allies…but that will only get him so far. Once the brat shows his true colors as a naive fool, his allies will either abandon him or manipulate him for their own ends. Besides, he’s got a “housewarming present” in store for the brand new monarch…

Speaking of which…Vermine glances around for any potential interlopers (Ratja quickly goes back to her task) before he leans in to mutter that a little bird has found its way into his ear, and has begun whispering some of Evermore’s secrets to him…

* * *

**8am approx., Throne Room, Evermore Castle, Day Five**

Chapter Four properly begins with the ka-tet in Evermore throne room ( _there’s no establishing shot of the exterior of the kingdom needed, as there’s not much to look at as of yet_ ), having just put the finishing touches on Evan’s new seat of power…quite literally; Lofty is checking to make sure the throne is properly centered as the scene begins.

As Evan takes a seat for the first time, Roland remarks that Evermore is finally starting to look like a real kingdom. (Tani quips that it had better be, otherwise why have they been working their butts off for the last day and a half?) But looks aren’t everything; it’s time for Evan to step up to the plate and start ruling his new kingdom. Batu adds that Evan won’t be able to unite the world if he can’t even rule one measly kingdom! Hopefully, the player has saved at the end of the last chapter because they’ll be launched right into the Kingdom Management tutorial with no chance to save beforehand.

[ **Gameplay Change** : At the start, the Kingdom Management mini-game will be mostly similar to how it is in the original game. But as the chapters go by, more and more mechanics will be added as Evan takes on more responsibilities other than the creation of infrastructure and his leadership skills develop. The events of the rest of the game will have more of an impact on Evermore: there will be more resources to manage, citizens from different cultures will clash with each other, making alliances with other Kingdoms will create more side quests the player must complete to maintain diplomacy between those nations, etc].

( _The progression and difficulty curves imply that Roland is slowly letting Evan handle more responsibility as time goes on so that he can truly become a king and won’t need Roland as a mentor anymore._ )

For now, the tutorial starts with an explanation of the interface before Roland rhetorically asks Evan what the most pressing concern of Evermore could be now that the castle is complete. After a few seconds, Evan reasons that the brand new kingdom will need the means to defend themselves: weapons and armor, plus the two main types of magic—sorcery and spritecraft, he clarifies for the sake of the non-magically taught members of the ka-tet (aka everyone but possibly Lofty).

The tutorial continues along with the four ministries/upgrade shops getting built and the first research topic completed. Having just built all of these facilities, Evan belatedly realizes that they don’t actually have any people with the expertise needed to run any of these new ministries. The sky pirates and Niall have their individual areas of expertise, but none of them have the knowledge they need for advanced metalworking and combat spells…

At that moment, Persha arrives in the throne room. She tries to leave when she sees that Evan is busy, but he asks her to stay and explain why she came here. Persha admits that she’s been feeling a bit antsy now that construction on the kingdom has been mostly complete. Back in Ding Dong Dell, her duties as a castle chambermaid would have taken a good portion of the day to complete. However, her list of chores in Evermore is not nearly as extensive and by mid-morning, there’s nothing left for her to do. The downtime is nice and all, but she believes that she could be of better use to the kingdom and came to ask Evan to give her something new to do ( _as the framing device for this next bit of tutorial_ ).

[ **Gameplay Change** : While the player is here, they might as well use some of the remaining Kingsguilders (they’re left with 950KG after the tutorial is over and that’s more than enough for one more facility) to build a bazaar and assign a merchant (Persha) since the original tutorial covers the importance of material collection but doesn’t bother to set one up. ( _Material production will become important for more than collecting quest items and/or upgrade materials in a later chapter._ )

For budgeting reasons, the chibi models are still being used for this stage of Evermore. A player will have to get their kingdom up to Level 5 (which requires them to be in the post-game with all 100 citizens recruited, all facilities build, a full Citizen Morale meter, and no Brokenhearted anywhere in the world) to get the life-sized map of Evermore where they can run around picking up the sparkles like in the other kingdoms.]

The tutorial ends with Persha thanking Evan before scurrying off. But before she leaves, she hovers by the door and looks back with a small smile at him on the throne deep in discussion with his new ministers—the implication being that she came here in an attempt to boost Evan's confidence after the events of the last chapter.

[ **Gameplay Change** : Tani’s special skill in the Kingdom Building mini-game is Dowser’s Instinct, which is a type of divination used to find resources buried in the earth (such as groundwater and precious gems). However, this earth-based skill doesn’t really gel with Tani’s combat moveset (the obligatory steal move, storm spells, and arrow-based attacks) and it’s hard to imagine the _Sky Pirates_ setting up a mining operation rather than just taking those resources from someone else. In the reworking, Tani’s skill will be Eagle Eye with her most suitable facilities being the Explorer’s Guilds and Bazaars (since the player will need more of those resources for future plot-related events).]

The ka-tet is left wondering how to find people with the expertise needed to run any of the new ministries they have just built. They don’t know any weapon-smiths, armorers, or mages as of yet, but Evan and Roland have met someone who could be considered a Higgledy expert. ( _There was technically already a “citizen recruiting” tutorial in Chapter Three, but Evermore needs someone to create/upgrade Higgledies (and this is a convenient way to make sure that the player doesn’t miss the Dreamer Door Sidequest)._ ) Tani and Batu stay behind to keep an eye on the last few bits of construction left as Evan, Roland, and Lofty head off to recruit Auntie Martha.

* * *

Auntie Martha doesn’t know what to make of Lofty at first: he’s certainly no higgledy, but she’s never seen anything like him before… She’s excited to see Evan’s new kingdom but—like all NPCs—makes him perform a fetch quest for her first. Lofty grumbles all the way to the Grotty Grotto about how Evan’s a king: _he_ should be the one ordering _other people_ to do menial tasks for _him_! With a laugh, Evan claims that he doesn’t mind; it’s a little nostalgic coming back to the Rolling Hills and feeling much more sure of himself than the first time he was here…

Mileniyah and her fellow “people of no nation” are implied to be former Allegorians, so she should have some minor reaction to meeting the Soulmate of her former king in Grotty Grotto. During her explanation of the Dreamers’ Doors, she keeps giving Roland some odd looks and muttering “...fascinating...” under her breath—or so she thinks, she’s really just saying it out loud. The “professor” concludes that her meeting Evan and Roland today must have been the work of the fates before she departs from the cave. They’re quite weirded out, and Lofty comes to the incorrect conclusion that Mileniyah just fancies Roland but is too much of a weird nerd to express it properly.

Lofty is keen on exploring the Dreamers’ Door at the back of the cave, but Roland says that they should wait to bring Tani and Batu along with them if the maze within is as dangerous as Mileniyah claims it is. Besides, Martha is waiting for them and her magic steel wool.

[ **Gameplay Change** : Sidequests no longer give the player experience points from completion. The player gets EXP from fights that they must undertake for certain sidequests anyway: all that the extra EXP does is make a player over-leveled for the main story if they decide to stop and complete some sidequests. Without the need to fight enemies outside of the main quest for the purpose of gaining useful rewards, players might not learn more of the advanced fight mechanics because they’ll be powerful enough to button mash their way through any fight until they hit a wall (such as the harder DLC fights).

 _Wrath of the White Witch_ never gave its player battle experience for sidequest completion ( _even when it maybe should have because that game has all of the familiars to level up—it’s not fun grinding up a new familiar because none of your current familiars have an elemental attack you need for an upcoming boss fight_ ). The systems of _Revenant Kingdom_ don’t necessitate the player needing all this extra experience, even with all the rebalancing to make the combat more difficult in the reworking.]

Evan, Roland, and Lofty return to Evermore with their new citizen, and Auntie Martha leaves to show herself around the kingdom. Before they can relax, the other half of the ka-tet plus Chingis run into the room to announce that a small army of bandits has been spotted outside of Evermore—Evan needs to deal with this threat right now! Tyran has assembled a small army of all the bandits that were driven off their lands in the previous chapter, and they’re aiming to take the kingdom for themselves. Evan holds his ground and the Invasion Skirmish tutorial begins.

[ **Gameplay Change** : Invasion Skirmishes are going to be semi-mandatory Skirmishes that won’t be repeatable. They’ll be accessible from the world map but they won’t start properly until Chapter Five when the army has at least four units. Even then, they won’t be that frequent so it won’t feel like such a chore. During the rest of the game (but never before a boss or during a sequence where the player can’t go back to Evermore), there will be a pop-up on the screen indicating that an invasion force needs to be fought off in Evermore or one of their allied territories.

These Invasion Skirmishes aren’t necessarily mandatory; but if left alone for too long, the player will have to pay Kingsguilders to repair any damage that the invading force does to Evermore. As more nations sign the Declaration and lose their Kingmakers, Evermore will be charged with helping them repel Invasions as well, and it will take real Guilders to compensate for failing to do so. On the plus side, the rewards for completing them are much better than those of a typical Skirmish. It’s also a way to get lower-level army units experience without grinding the same Skirmishes over and over. Recruiting certain citizens before the postgame will also depend on the player keeping an eye on this mechanic. In the sidequest log, they’ll be replacing the “friendly skirmishes” with the armies of other kingdoms.]

Since there are still only two units in Evan’s army, the tutorial Invasion Skirmish is pretty easy. However, Tyran threatens that the bandits will be back in greater numbers as he retreats yet again. There’s a lot of people that got kicked out of their homes when Evan and company strolled onto the scene; just because he doesn’t have a fancy castle or Kingmaker doesn’t mean that Tyran is going to give up so easily! Batu scoffs dismissively at his retreating back before he suggests to Evan that if these invasion attempts are going to be a regular thing, maybe they ought to look into getting more military power for Evermore.

* * *

Back in the kingdom, there are more new mechanics and tutorials. ( _Auntie Martha’s animosity towards those “despicable Sky Pirates” due to her backstory would indicate that she would perhaps be wary of Tani, Batu, Khunbish, Chingis, Gerel, and Sukhon (which is more than half of the kingdom’s current named population) when she first moves to Evermore. It takes some time for people to get over their ingrained prejudices towards others that they haven’t spent a lot of time with, after all._ )

As the ka-tet return from the battle, Auntie Martha is in the throne room, absolutely _fuming_ that Evan and Roland _conveniently_ left out the fact that this new kingdom was crawling with sky pirates! Batu and Tani are immediately on edge in the face of her animosity and the mood in the room turns just as hostile as the battlefield the ka-tet just left. As Evan quietly panics, Roland kindly but firmly prompts him to step in and resolve the argument between his citizens. If Evan is going to run a kingdom, he needs to learn how to be a politician—and practice is the best way to learn.

[ **Gameplay Change** : In a late-game side quest (Quest 120 to be exact), Evan has to mitigate a conflict between Bracken and Ketch that stems from a cultural misunderstanding between them. So there will be more of these kinds of Evermore citizen side quests and they’ll have a specific meter attached to their completion called the Citizen Morale meter. The meter drops if there is tension between citizens of the kingdom for whatever reason (which in turn tends to affect other citizens—even if they may not be directly affected by said conflict), and solving those tensions via side quests fills the meter back up again.

This meter is also tied to citizen productivity (ex. research speed, the number of resources gathered by citizens, and the speed at which they do so). If the player wants their kingdom to be producing a lot more resources faster, they’ll want to have that meter topped off. The meter must also be topped off in order to upgrade the kingdom to the next level.]

( _Since this is just the tutorial, the conflict resolution here will be pretty easy._ ) Evan takes Martha aside (while Roland and Lofty try to calm down Tani and Batu) and explains that the Sky Pirates are rough around the edges, but there’s a reason they’re so hostile to outsiders and their bad reputation is overblown! The screen fades to black as Evan recaps everything that’s happened to him and Roland after leaving her cottage. When he’s finished, Martha still looks skeptical but lets it slip that she hasn’t ever met one of the Southern Base Sky Pirates before. ( _The specifics of her backstory will still be saved for the second DLC._ )

Then Evan asks Martha if she isn’t being far too quick to judge some people that she’s never even met. She helped him and Roland without question after they saved her, despite knowing absolutely nothing about them, did she not? If he can prove that not all sky pirates are bad, will she stay in Evermore and give the sky pirates here the benefit of the doubt as well? After some hesitation, Martha eventually folds and gives him a chance to prove that sky pirates can in fact be upstanding members of society.

Evan’s next challenge is to get Tani and Batu to go along with this. Roland and Lofty have managed to get Tani’s boiling fury down to a seething simmer by the time Evan walks over. Batu on the other hand has reached a state of calm acceptance; he’s much more used to the judgment that comes from being on the fringes of society. When Evan tells them about his plan to help the sky pirates gather materials for Auntie Martha to create a new Higgledy as a peace offering, Tani’s about to reply that the old lady can go and kick rocks but her father has been thinking about their reception in Goldpaw in the previous chapter. He reminds Tani that they’ve spent all this time building up a fearsome reputation around his name and those of the Sky Pirates—can she really be mad that their con was this successful?

Roland also points out that if Tani wants to be the Minister of Communications in Evermore, she’s going to have to learn how to talk to people she doesn’t like and how to win people over. Not everyone with whom they’ll have to interact is going to give them the benefit of the doubt after all. And it wasn’t like the sky pirates were going to give him and Evan a chance had Tani and Batu not stepped in and Evan not been successful in convincing them to. (Not that he’s still the tiniest bit bitter about the whole incident…) Tani takes a deep breath before gritting her teeth and muttering that she _supposes_ she can try to look past a terrible first impression and give the old bird another chance.

[ **Gameplay Change** : This introduction to Citizen Morale Side Quests also doubles as a Higgledy creation tutorial as well. Completing this sidequest and installing Auntie Martha in Evermore will unlock an ability to save up to six different party formations of Higgledies that the player can quickly switch to in the main menu, plus a second set of Higgledies they can switch to mid-battle from the item screen. ( _The second set will get more use when the party gets split at points in later chapters, but it’s useful if the player’s current set of Higgledies doesn’t have the elemental skill they need for a particular fight._ )

Should the player talk to any of the other former Sky Pirates before completing this side quest, they will also have a line or two of unique dialogue. Khunbish is similarly indignant that Auntie Martha was hostile right off the bat. Chingis and Gerel both reluctantly accept that they'll have to deal with the initial prejudice towards the sky pirates from newcomers to Evermore, but Gerel's more confident that they can win any doubters over. Sukhon seems mostly apathetic to the situation but then she adds that anyone who messes with her kinfolk is in for a world of hurting, so they better watch their mouths.]

Auntie Martha is mollified (for the moment) and concedes that the sky pirates aren’t irredeemable heartless bastards (in a more PG way, of course). With Tani and Batu having resolved to make peace with their new neighbor, Evan and Roland decide to count this as a win for now. ( _The conflict has been de-escalated for the moment, but the tension between Martha and the Sky Pirates (in Evermore and in general) will be a recurring subplot throughout the reworking, culminating in a new gameplay mechanic for Tani and Batu once all parties can properly bury the hatchet._ )

* * *

There is one last new mechanic to explain. Evan gets the briefest of moments to catch his breath before Tani starts waving the ka-tet’s Leafbook viewer in his face in an attempt to show him something cool. Scrolling through her Leafbook feed, she found a contest in which people can get prizes for defeating powerful monsters that have been terrorizing travelers and giving normal soldiers a hard time. They’re all reportedly tainted with this dark energy that looks like purple smoke, which sounds like the same thing that was afflicting Pugnacius…

Unfortunately, there’s a whole process where prospective bounty hunters have to join the official Hunter’s Lodge in their area to be eligible for these prizes. However, if one of these lodges was built in Evermore, they can get traveling monster hunters to stop by and maybe collect some prizes for themselves. Tani already contacted a member of the Bounty Hunter Association (Mad 4 Monstrz on Leafbook is one of their representatives) and got their permission to set one up. All Evan has to do is give the order to build and get someone to run it. By now, there’s been enough time elapsed for the player to collect some more Kingsguilders and build another facility.

[ **Gameplay Change** : Tainted Monster Bounties are now tied to the Hunting Lodge facilities in Evermore. The player will get the EXP and drops upon killing the monster, but they have to go back to Evermore and visit one of the lodges to collect the additional reward. Ten new Tainted Monsters are unlocked per Hunting Lodge built so the player starts off in this chapter with bounties one through ten available. Along with building a new Hunting Lodge, the player needs to complete each set of ten bounties to unlock the next ten. So if a side quest requires the player to kill Tainted Monster number twenty-four, they will have to complete the first twenty Tainted Monster Bounties to get that monster to even spawn on the Overworld. ( _This is to encourage the player to keep up with the bounties as the game goes along and not do them all at the end of the game._ )

An additional requirement of building new Lodges is that Evermore needs one citizen with a skill that makes them Suitable to work in a Hunting Lodge per building. So the player can build a second Hunting Lodge once they’ve recruited Min Ti later on in this chapter. The other citizens who are Suitable Hunting Lodge workers in the game are:

  * Moggie May (first available in Chapter Five) 
  * Helena (first available in Chapter Six) 
  * Lycorias (first available in Chapter Seven) 
  * Raxel (first available in Chapter Ten) 
  * Alexis (first available in Chapter Eleven) 



Helena now requires that the player has completed twenty Tainted Monster hunts before she joins Evermore, and Alexis joining requires completing fifty, which also unlocks the bonus ten Tainted Monster Bounties. Also building the Hunting Lodge and completing the first Tainted Monster Bounty (Googah) gives the player the In-Game Bestiary ( _that_ Revenant Kingdom _is sorely missing_ ) at the end of the tutorial when Evan has turned in his very first bounty.] 

And that concludes the tutorials for now. ( _Expanding upon the Kingdom Building mechanic gives the player more to do in terms of creating immersion and keeping things fresh by building in complexity as the story progresses. The player will be rewarded for frequently interacting with the mechanic, and punished for ignoring it for too long. And with the added story content later on, the player won’t be waiting around for the timers in the minigame to end because they’ll be busy with either the main story or other forms of side content (the Dreamers Doors, Tainted Monster fights, etc.)._ )

* * *

[Other assorted **Gameplay Changes** :

  * If healing items do not scale to the player's stats as the game progresses, they do now in the reworking so that the player is not stuck with an inventory full of low-level healing items in the postgame. 
  * There’s an option to give Mr. Higglesworth 100 pebbles at once to get 10 of the same type of candy. (Otherwise a player who forgot he exists until late in the game or just doesn't find him at all until later isn't there forever trying to get rid of their hundreds of pebbles they've accrued.) If the player is some kind of crazy person and can collect 999 pebbles (or whatever the cap on items is) somehow, he’ll give them some super overpowered (but also heinously ugly) piece of armor in exchange. 
  * There are now submenus for the different types of materials so it’s way easier to find out if the player has one specific item when they’ve got 99 different kinds of materials cluttering up their inventory (especially in the postgame and the DLCs). 
  * Various NPC dialogue balloons throughout the game need to be fixed because sometimes they don’t light up to indicate when an NPC has a new line of dialogue. 
  * The level cap for the base game is now 150 (because of all the added content up ahead in the reworking—including two entire chapters and twenty-plus new boss fights). By the end of the last DLC, it will be up to 300.] 



* * *

It’s only mid-morning and already Evan is feeling quite overwhelmed. There are so many things to keep track of when running a kingdom! He asks Roland if running a country gets easier with time. Roland admits that the stress never really goes away, no matter how much your organization and diplomacy skills improve. However, any comparison between the two of their countries would be unfair since Evan is starting his own country from scratch.

> **Roland** : ‘ _Still, a blank slate has its advantages...the lack of significant cultural baggage and thus resistance to change for one…_ ’

However, he keeps this to himself for now. Roland tells Evan (and the player by proxy) that they can take a break if this is stressing him out. Batu inquires about the strange Dreamers’ Doors that he heard about from Roland; bashing some monsters is an effective source of stress relief! Tani suggests more monster hunting that guarantees some good bounties! (And not just because getting pictures of these Tainted Monsters would get her more likes on Leafbook, no siree!) Finally, the player is let loose into the open world once again. But once Evan is finally ready to progress the plot, Roland announces that Niall has an important message from Goldpaw.


	12. Ch.4.2 - Surprise, Your Actions Have Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the steeper learning curve of the reworking is unkind to Evan once again, and the young king must learn to stand by his decisions while learning from his mistakes.

## Chapter Four: One Nation, Underdog (Part Two)

The ka-tet and Niall convene in the War Room, where Niall has brought a letter addressed to him and the “representatives of the kingdom of Evermore”. He plops it down on the table so that the rest of the room can read it, expression neutral. The letter is written in neat, military handwriting but there are a few stray splotches of ink dotted around the page, as if it was written under duress. Tani can’t read the written language of Goldpaw, so she asks Evan to read it out loud to everyone present.

( _Due to the length of this letter and all of the exposition it conveys, the segments of the letter will be presented in the same manner as most of the game’s flashbacks: static illustrated images with a bit of sepia with text and no voiceover._ )

> To His Excellency, Niall of the Forest of Niall, Leader of the Greenlings,
> 
> I hope this missive reaches you and your kinfolk in good health. Let me begin with my most sincere apologies for being unable to deliver this message to you in person, but I am regrettably unable to leave the kingdom at present due to the current state of Goldpaw requiring my presence. As we have not formally met, allow me to introduce myself—I am Captain Ya Pi of the Goldpaw army, temporary (Gods willing) leader of the kingdom of Goldpaw.

While Evan pauses to take a breath, Tani dryly comments that the ka-tet got lucky and picked the right dog in Goldpaw to entrust with the evidence against Pugnacius. Lofty retorts that Ya Pi certainly does not sound excited about his new promotion here…

> Perhaps that is the last name you would like to hear from at this present time, but I wholeheartedly entreat you to hear me out at the very least. First and foremost, allow me to extend my sincerest apologies for the manner in which you and your people have been treated by my predecessor, Master Pugnacius, former Grand High Roller of Goldpaw. If you are not aware by now, Master Pugnacius—unbeknownst to the lesser governmental offices and military of Goldpaw, myself included—has been using rigged mechanical dice in order to cheat many people out of their possessions, yourself and the citizens of Goldpaw included.
> 
> As the temporary leader of Goldpaw, I hereby use the emergency powers granted to me in order to annul any debts you and any of your people have accrued due to Master Pugnacius’s manipulations. The deed claiming ownership of your forest by the kingdom of Goldpaw has been torn in half and therefore invalidated as a legally binding document. (I have included the pieces of said document with this letter as proof of my word.) By law, you—Niall of the Forest of Niall, leader of the Greenlings—are once again the sole owner of the forest that bears your name. Anything left behind by the operations conducted by Goldpaw in your forest is yours now to do with as you see fit.

Evan looks up with a grin at the news that Niall has officially gotten his forest back. Tani and Lofty are just as enthused, while the adults seem more skeptical. Batu snarks that Ya Pi could’ve said the same thing in less words and saved himself the ink. However, Roland points out that Ya Pi has called himself a “temporary leader” twice now. While there might be a reasonable person in charge right now, who shall take his place and how will they deal with the actions of foreign agents directly influencing the balance of power in their kingdom?

> Goldpaw has your associates from the kingdom recently christened Evermore to thank for not only exposing the mass deception orchestrated by Master Pugnacius and an individual known as “the Mandarin”, but also the deep-set corruption that has been ingrained in the rulers of the kingdom since its inception. However, this turn of events has also led to mass societal unrest within the kingdom of Goldpaw, the ramifications of which will affect the kingdom and surrounding territories in some regard, your forest included. The Mandarin’s machinations led to all of my superior officers dispatched to the far corners of the kingdom, leaving myself and the remaining soldiers stationed at the capitol to quell the initial riots that broke out after the Grand High Roller’s deception was publicly revealed.

( _There is a line from the female guard dog in front of the library in Chapter Three in which she is worried about people resorting to drastic measures when the taxes are increased sixfold yet again. One can only imagine how pissed off those people would be when it was revealed that the massive tax increases were deliberate and Lady Luck was always rigged to make it so._ )

> While I truly sympathize with the angry citizens, as they have genuinely been exploited by the leader who was supposed to look out for them—and I cannot say in all honesty that I don’t share their valid feelings of indignation towards the former leadership of the kingdom to some extent—my duties to keep the peace within the kingdom come first, especially at an uncertain time as this when we are weakened as a kingdom due to the loss of our Kingmaker. However, tensions in the city are still high and as of this writing, Goldpaw is under emergency martial law until the leaders of the army can reconvene and decide how to proceed in the aftermath of these attempts at an uprising.

Eyes filling with dismay, Evan has to pause again to look at the rest of the occupants of the room in shock: this is not the outcome that he wanted for Goldpaw at all! Everyone else is just as disappointed, but not nearly as surprised. It certainly puts a damper into Roland’s plan of returning to the library in order to find a way home. (What’s with this world and political coups?) And why would Ya Pi be telling this to Niall—who has understandable reasons to potentially give this information to Goldpaw’s enemies, letting them know that the kingdom has been weakened and thrown into disarray?

> Having said this, the remnants of the Grand High Roller’s council have refused to cede power to me and therefore the Goldpaw military. They have barricaded themselves in the Palace with Pugnacius (who—from what intelligence my soldiers have been able to gather—remains comatose still) and refused to come out. I tell you this because regretfully, lack of access to the Palace Records Room and Treasury means that I cannot reimburse you of any guilders you may have lost to Pugnacius’s deceit, and for that I sincerely apologize. ~~I was lucky~~ ~~fortunate~~ Only quick thinking led me to grab the deed to your forest before I was forcibly ejected from the Palace. At this current moment in time, this is the best I can do to right the wrongs that Goldpaw has done to you and your people. I shall endeavor to do more once reinforcements have arrived and we have taken back the Palace from Pugnacius’s loyalists.

Roland isn’t surprised at all that a power vacuum has occurred after Pugnacius was incapacited, splintering what was left of the kingdom’s government into factions—that is usually how it goes in a hierarchical government when the ruling oligarch is suddenly removed. However, the infighting is happening a lot quicker than he anticipated. While Goldpaw might have soured to the concept of luck, Evermore has been incredibly lucky that someone sympathetic towards them and Niall has made it into power.

Lofty notes that Ya Pi might be trying to sound professional, but the barely legible words nearly scratched out by furious lines of ink that have nearly torn through the paper tell a different story. If someone as composed as him is taking everything he thought he knew having been revealed to be a lie as old as the kingdom so poorly, no wonder riots have broken out in Goldpaw. And who could blame them?

> However, I write to you now in order to plead with you not to sever all ties to Goldpaw. I acknowledge that the leadership of this kingdom has caused you much hardship in the past month or so, and you would be well in your rights to cut loose and ally yourselves solely with Evermore instead. Therefore, please allow me to lay out the two reasons why distancing yourselves from Goldpaw would not be an ideal move at this juncture.
> 
> First of all, my current executive powers will only last until my commanding officers arrive back in the capitol: after that I can no longer guarantee the autonomy of you and your peoples’ forest from that moment on. Up until he attempted to cheat ownership of your forest away from you, Master Pugnacius was always insistent on the kingdom keeping a respectful distance from the Forest of Niall despite it being claimed for the kingdom of Goldpaw on paper. However, several of my commanding officers have expressed the desire to exert a greater presence up north in the past, with the Grand High Roller usually one of the sole officials vetoing expansion into the forest.
> 
> I am telling you this not as a threat, but as a warning: should my commanding officers decide that the Greenlings allying with the foreign power responsible for the former Grand High Roller’s fall from power presents a danger to Goldpaw, there will be little that I can do to stop them. At least if the Greenlings remain allied to Goldpaw, there is an argument to be made for placating our allies as our kingdom has been greatly weakened by the severance of the Kingsbond with Longfang.

Lofty snarks that this still sounds like a threat. Tani scoffs that Ya Pi’s just being a coward; if he really wanted to leave the Forest of Niall alone, he’d stand up to his bosses if they tried anything! Roland points out that this would just lead to Ya Pi getting kicked out of the army, and therefore even more powerless to try and stop Goldpaw from taking the forest back. Plus, he’s sharing a lot of state secrets with Niall (that he probably shouldn’t be), making himself and Goldpaw vulnerable in an attempt to show his sincerity. Ya Pi wouldn’t be putting his kingdom in such a potentially perilous position if he didn’t mean what he’s saying here.

> My second reason is one that I put forward not as a representative of Goldpaw, but as an individual who has observed the relationship between you and Master Pugnacius ever since I was assigned to the Palace. It is my sincere belief that Master Pugnacius’s uncharacteristic actions in this past month have been caused in some way by the manipulations of the Mandarin. I witnessed the same type of dark magical energy the Mandarin used to steal Master Pugnacius’s Kingsbond emanating from the former Grand High Roller moments before Longfang attacked. I am in no means gifted in the magical arts, but I believe that this dark magic influencing Pugnacius would explain why he has been behaving wildly out of character since the Mandarin first appeared in Goldpaw.
> 
> As you have known him longer, I would assume that this thought has already crossed your mind at sometime during this past month. It would be most improper of me to comment on the state of your relations as individuals, so let me make it clear that I am only speaking of terms of the two of you as leaders when I say that I believe that you should at least hear out what Pugnacius has to say for himself, dark magic or not, once he’s regained consciousness before making the decision to sever ties.
> 
> Perhaps it is naive of me to hope that all of this can be reversed by bringing Pugnacius back to his original state, but it would be much easier to I would not begrudge you if you decided against this course of action, just know that I believe it would be the most advantageous course of action for the sake of both of our people.

Niall does not comment on Ya Pi’s suggestions directly, but he does confirm that Pugnacius had previously told him about dissuading several attempts from some of his people to build a fortress or other defensive structure within or close to his forest. As for the captain's theory about dark magic used to corrupt Pugnacius, well that’s what that he and the ka-tet have been working with ever since the first wisps of dark energy coming from the Grand High Roller in the Throne Room, isn’t it? Tani asks about consulting the Forest Guardians or whoever gave Evan the pointless Locket about Pugnacius and the Kingsbond thief like Niall said he would before. Niall fires back that he’s been kind of busy with the whole “building Evermore” business, but he’s going to look into it now that construction has concluded.

But the letter is not finished:

> Finally, if it is not too much of a burden for you, I would deeply appreciate it if you were to pass along my heartfelt thanks to them for both exposing this most insidious ploy and protecting the citizens of Goldpaw from the threat of a rampaging Realmwrecker at great risk to their own wellbeing. Their bravery and strength cannot be praised enough by the people of this kingdom.

Lofty boasts that Longfang wasn't so tough! With a skeptical glare, Batu grumbles that when someone piles on the niceties like that, it usually means that they expect something in return…

> However, their actions have also caused a considerable amount of strife and confusion to the people of Goldpaw. I understand that this may not have been the intent of the king and his delegation, but their close proximity to Goldpaw and the Forest of Niall will bring our people into conflict once again unless the leadership of both nations can take preemptive measure to keep that from happening. Between our two kingdoms, neither is prepared for prolonged conflict and (Gods willing) this manner can be summarily resolved without the need for violence.
> 
> If Evermore is an honorable nation, King Evan will return to Goldpaw to help fix the mayhem he has had a part in causing by convincing my superiors that they will not be interfering in our nation’s affairs in a similar manner again. The gates of Goldpaw may be shut, but my soldiers will be on alert for their arrival and let them into the city. Once again, I sincerely apologize for not being able to deliver this message in person, but the current circumstances will not allow it.

* * *

> **Batu** , with a scoff: “An’ there it is, tha' scurvy dog's blaming us for what ‘appened with Longfang and Master Pugnacius after all!”
> 
> **Lofty** : “Well, he’s not totally wrong, mun...What Ol' Pugs did was worse, but we _did_ cause a huge fracas _and_ we made sure that th' whole kingdom was there fer it...”

As the letter concludes, the ka-tet are left troubled by this last request. Tani argues that it’s hardly a “request”—more like an overly formal threat that things will be worse for Evermore if Evan doesn’t show up. Both Evan and Batu are about to object for different reasons, but Roland cuts in and insists that Goldpaw’s problems are none of their business, no matter how hard Ya Pi tries to guilt them into believing otherwise. The fiction that Goldpaw was built upon couldn’t remain secret forever; that house of cards was going to collapse eventually with or without the ka-tet’s intervention.

Besides, Evermore is barely even a proper nation—Evan needs to build a viable kingdom of his own before trying to fix the world. Evan argues that he already has everything he needs to be a king: a kingmaker, a kingdom, and citizens. What else could he be missing? A banner, replies Roland.

The rest of the ka-tet are confused by what he means. A banner? Is that like a flag? Roland clarifies that by a banner, he’s referring to what Evermore as a nation stands for—specifically, the goals and values that define the kingdom as a whole. A mission statement, a shared purpose, something that every citizen of the kingdom strives towards, and the reason people will want to come to Evermore and hopefully become permanent citizens.

He’s met by blank stares in response, especially from the former sky pirates. Why would you need a philosophical reason to live somewhere? Batu mutters that he’s not sure how things work in Roland’s world, but in this one people usually live where they live because it’s safer in a group than trying to live on your own…

Taking a deep breath, Roland tries to explain what he’s talking about by sharing a bit of the history of his own country. (Flashback time!) When the country that would later become the Democratic Union of Andoria won its independence from the Caeledonian Empire [[1](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908/chapters/67506607#note1)], there were seven independent states formed from the former colonies. As time went by, these states expanded outwards and gobbled up more land to the west of the continent (kicking out all the indigenous peoples along the way). The states began to clash between themselves and the losers found themselves forcibly absorbed into the victor’s state until only three great states remained.

Eventually, the people got tired of fighting, especially since all of this time and money spent on endless conflict was holding them back while the other nations of the world improved their technology and trade. So the leaders of these three states sat down with each other and decided that they would be more powerful as three parts of a greater union instead of fighting in between themselves as the rest of the world marched on. The "banner" of the Democratic Union of Andoria, as seen on their flag, is “Union”—derived from the motto of another country ("Liberté, égalité, union") who aided the former colonies in their original war for independence.[[2](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908/chapters/67506607#note2)]

(It’s a heavily mythologized origin story that leaves out a lot of sordid details, but the rest of the ka-tet don’t need to know that.)

> **Tani** : “Well, that’s nice and all, but why does Evermore have to “stand” for something too? Why can’t we just build a new kingdom because we want to? And because of the promise Evan made to Nella?”

Roland reminds her that a kingdom needs people—both visitors and permanent residents—in order to function. Evermore needs food and supplies to keep their people healthy and happy, which is impossible without forming relationships with traders and/or getting people with those skills to come and live in the kingdom. And those people need a better reason to move to Evermore than “we built this kingdom because we wanted to and because our king made a promise to his dear friend”: that isn’t going to be an enticing enough argument to make people pack up everything and come live in Evan’s kingdom.

For instance, why would someone join the Sky Pirates as opposed to going somewhere else? Well, living among the Sky Pirates grants people more security than living on your own in the wilderness, but it also allows them to exist with more freedom than if they lived in one of the larger kingdoms, correct? (Batu confirms this, adding that they’re also not picky about who joins them. If you can be useful to the base in some way, you can be a sky pirate—it doesn’t matter if you’re good at fighting or not.) So the “banner” of the Sky Pirates would be both independence and community at the same time.

Now everyone’s starting to get it. (Privately, Evan wonders what the specific “banner” of Ding Dong Dell was. He’s never thought about his former kingdom in that way…) Roland also emphasizes that whatever mission statement they chose for Evermore has to be something they can actually live up to. Look at Goldpaw: they based the ethos of their kingdom around luck and fortune but their leaders were secretly manipulating things according to the whims the whole time. Discovering that their founding principles as a nation were all a sham is a big reason why the people of Goldpaw are in such a state currently.

Batu cuts in to say that Evermore already has one of these “banners”: to rule the world! He’s confused by the negative reactions of the rest of the ka-tet (and Niall) to this statement. Wasn’t that what Evan had said he wanted back in Chapter Two? To “put an end to war and misery and unite all the kingdoms in peace” or whatever?

> **Evan** : “W-what? No! I want to unite the world in _peace_ , not to conquer it! If I did that, then I would just be creating more war and misery—and I’d be undermining the reason that we built Evermore in the first place, just like the founders of Goldpaw did! I'd-I'd be no worse than Mausinger!”
> 
> **Batu** , bewildered: “Then how exactly do you expect to unite _all_ of the kingdoms, lad? Do you think the leaders of the other nations will just give up all of their power and influence for the _promise_ of peace!?”
> 
> **Tani** , irritated: “Well there’s got to be a better way than taking over the whole entire world!”

It only now dawns on Roland that Evan is dead set on world peace as an actual goal he’s aiming for rather than mere wishful thinking. Oh dear, he’s in for some disappointment once that realization hits somewhere down the line...

Roland steps in before the argument can get out of hand and puts forth the idea of peace treaties as a way to unite the kingdoms just as the founders of his own country did. But to do that, Evermore will need to be seen as a proper nation first before the other great nations will recognize it as an equal power and take Evan seriously as a ruler enough to come to the negotiating table. And to circle back to his original point, Evermore needs a mission statement to even begin to be a proper nation. To that end, Roland asks Evan what kind of kingdom he wants Evermore to become.

> **Evan** : “Most of all, I suppose I would like it to be a happy place. A place where people get along with each other.”

Wincing, Roland bites back a sarcastic response and says that they’ll need something more concrete than that. After all, you can’t force people to be happy by law. Evan settles on “A kingdom without war or fighting”, but Batu quickly points out how foolish of a notion this is. Conflict between folks will happen no matter what—that’s just human (as well as every other species in this world) nature. Roland agrees.

Instead of petulantly insisting that this has to be Evermore’s mission statement, Evan stops to consider this for a moment in the rewrite. He then decides that if conflicts are inevitable, then Evermore’s "banner" will be about resolving these conflicts without violence or fighting, by promoting peaceful solutions and acceptance of the differences between people. Tani and Lofty think that this sounds like a good thing for the kingdom to stand for, but Evan needs to put the idea into fewer words as it’ll be hard to remember all of that. Batu still finds this too wishy-washy, but Roland finds the revised mission statement acceptable as a starting point.

However, in order to resolve these conflicts on an international level as Evan so desires, they’re going to need to know the histories, cultures, and political complexities of the other great nations so the ka-tet doesn’t go blundering into a situation as they did in Goldpaw again. There’s also the matter of the mysterious Kingsbond thief and the threat he might pose to Evermore. To that end, he suggests that the ka-tet go to Goldpaw, promise Ya Pi and his superiors that they will not be meddling further in Goldpaw’s affairs, and then use the library to gather the intel they need and get out as quickly as they can.

(The fact that for the entire duration of the tutorial gauntlet, Roland has been trying to come up with a valid reason to go back to check out that book on “other worlds” does not factor into this suggestion at all, no way.)

* * *

Roland had hoped that this goal would be a sufficient distraction for Evan in regards to Goldpaw’s issues, but this just has the opposite reaction of reminding Evan of Goldpaw’s plight. Evan argues that while the ka-tet is in the other kingdom, their priority should be trying to help out Goldpaw first before dealing with their own (less dire) problems. For one, it’s the morally correct thing to do: they made a mistake so they should help fix it. Plus, Roland pointed out before that the issue with Goldpaw as an institution was that Pugnacius and his government were not letting themselves be held accountable for their decisions and actions. Shouldn’t they apply the same standards to themselves and Evermore?

Roland has to admit he has a point with that last one, but Batu isn’t swayed. He insists that as the king of Evermore, Evan has to look out for his own kingdom and their interests above all others. Helping out Goldpaw doesn’t stand to benefit them at all, especially since they’re just getting on their feet here. Besides, Evan owes them nothing—aside from Ya Pi, the leaders of Goldpaw have been rude to the ka-tet and awful to Niall. Why should Evan go out of his way to help Pugnacius when he’s done nothing to deserve it?

> **Tani** , frantically tapping on ~~her~~ the ka-tet’s Leafbook viewer: “...and sent!”

She explains that she’s just sent a message to Ya Pi on Leafbook to expect them soon. In disbelief, Batu asks what the hell she did that for and Tani cheekily reminds him that she’s Evermore’s Minister of Communication—that’s literally her job! Roland wants to interject that she didn’t even ask Evan for permission first, but Evan doesn’t mind. He just wants to know how she knew that the captain had a Leafbook account. Tani informs him that everyone who matters has a Leafbook account (making Evan suddenly conscious of how he’s never posted anything on his), but also she found it when looking him up in the last chapter to see if he could be trusted or not. (Among other things, she found a fanpage of his hair for some reason...)

Going back to her father's indignant response, Tani counters that it’s not about helping Goldpaw, it’s about what people will think if they don’t help Goldpaw. Evermore needs a good reputation in order to be respected as a country, right? Right now, they’re trending on Leafbook for their participation in the trial, and most of the commenters are blaming _Evermore_ for what happened after! If they don’t go back and fix things, the kingdom’s reputation will be further dragged through the mud. Evermore as a kingdom has only existed for two days, and already their nation’s honor is on the line! People won’t want to come to Evermore if they believe them to be agents of chaos or something, and then Evan’s kingdom won’t be able to grow.

With his own daughter turning against him, Batu is forced to turn to Roland to back him up. Roland wants to point out that a weakened Goldpaw might actually be to their political advantage, but he reckons that this level of realpolitik is probably not what Evan needs to hear right now. Instead, he just reminds Evan and Tani of how badly their previous attempt at meddling in Goldpaw’s affairs went. What will they do if their actions keep making the situation worse?

> **Lofty** , at the top of his lungs: OI!

The Kingmaker hops up onto the table and asks why they’re arguing about politics and junk when there are much bigger problems at hand? Has the rest of the ka-tet forgotten about all that coagulated dark energy that was pouring out of Pugnacius in spades just before his Kingsbond got stolen!? That kind of stuff doesn’t just go away; all that negativity made manifest seeks out people’s hearts and infects them in order to propagate. This could be why Goldpaw has descended into chaos, as Longfang should’ve been able to protect the city from this dark influence if his Kingsbond were still intact. They need to find a way to deal with this before it spreads to other places, like Evermore!

That certainly puts an end to Roland and Batu’s arguments for non-intervention. Niall, who has been deep in contemplation this whole time, agrees with Lofty that the dark energy needs to be dealt with before it grows in power and size. He reminds Evan to bring the Locket along with him to Goldpaw, perhaps Boddly will have a better idea of how to use it properly. And...after some thought, Niall figures that even if their friendship cannot be mended, he at least owes Pugnacius a chance to explain himself (for closure if nothing else) and that won’t be possible until whatever dark influence placed upon him has been lifted. If the ka-tet is still too sore at Pugnacius to help him, will they help him and Goldpaw for Niall’s sake then?

At last the entire ka-tet agrees to the mission. Before they take off, Niall warns them that Boddly is notoriously stingy about letting people have access to the library. They might have gotten lucky the first time, but she might not be so generous in this instance. He promises to have an answer from the Forest Guardians soon as Evan casts Travel to take the ka-tet back to Goldpaw once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 In actuality, the Caeledonian Empire was really too busy trying to suppress the uprising of the Boudiccans—the citizens of another colony located on the southeastern side of their territory closer to the main continent—to do anything about their colonies all the way across the sea rising up at the same time.  [ [return to text](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908/chapters/67506607#return1) ]
> 
> 2 Gaulterre promptly backed away once they saw just how much of a bloodthirsty mess this new coalition of states was, then went on to have a revolution of their own when their king peacefully turned over power to an elected collation of politicians representing the needs of their people in a historic event that was the subject of many documentaries and pieces of fiction in the centuries afterwards.  [ [return to text](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908/chapters/67506607#return2) ]


	13. Ch.4.3 - Same Old Places, Same Old Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Boddly is the archetypal JRPG NPC and demands that the protagonists perform some errands for her to advance the plot, even when the kingdom she lives in is on the brink of strife.

## Chapter Four: One Nation, Underdog (Part Three)

**10:30 am approx., The Great Gate, Goldpaw, Day Five**

In Goldpaw, the mood is somber and tense. A cloud of dark haze—fueled by the dark energy released from Pugnacius—hangs over the whole city, with the highest concentration hovering over the Hall of the Grand High Roller. There are much fewer regular citizens and a lot more soldiers walking around than in the previous chapter. All of the restaurants and shops are boarded up, with signs on the item shops proclaiming that they will not be issuing refunds in the near future. On every spare bit of open wall, there have been signs hastily posted up, informing the citizens of the new curfew laws—effective immediately. The ka-tet can’t help but wince at the fruits of their handiwork as they make their way up to Fortune Square.

[ **Gameplay Change** : For obvious reasons, most Goldpaw side quests in this chapter (except the plot-mandatory ones) won’t be available until Pugnacius and Goldpaw are restored to normal.]

Past the now-closed and similarly boarded up casino, the road to the square is blocked off by a hastily thrown together barricade of overturned carts and whatever loose furniture and scrap from Longfang’s attack the builders could get their paws on at the time. The ramshackle defences are bolstered by the presence of an entire battalion of armed soldiers carrying long halberds and crossbows. The reason for their stationing en masse can be easily discerned from the burn marks and arrows sticking out of the barricades, the bridge, and the cobblestone street. Both pairs of armed guards by the entrance to the barricade and the square only let the ka-tet pass once they’ve confirmed the visitors’ identities with their superior.

The massive pile of debris where Lady Luck once stood has been cleared away, replaced by what seems to be Captain Ya Pi’s temporary command center. There is another series of ramshackle barricades here, but these face the entrance to the Grand Hall itself. High up above, one lone official sits upon the roof with a loaded crossbow, finger never leaving the trigger while eying the square below with the wild glint of paranoia in his eyes. The guards on the ground spare him the occasional wary glance, but they have shored up their defenses enough to leave him be for the moment.

Goldpaw’s new top dog himself looks exactly as tired and fed up at the new responsibilities of his battlefield promotion as his letter indicated. (If the player talks to him after this scene, he admits that he wants to be a soldier in the field to help people directly, and has avoided all promotions that would reduce his role to that of a bureaucrat…until now.) Despite the circles around his eyes and his glossy hair hanging limply over his face, Captain Ya Pi still maintains proper decorum as he addresses Evan and thanks him for coming on such short notice.

Evan apologizes for the ka-tet’s past meddling in Goldpaw’s affairs and he promises that Evermore will stay out of their way in the future, but they’re going to have to meddle just a bit more in order to get to the bottom of what’s wrong with Pugnacius. The screen fades to black as the ka-tet explain Niall’s theory about the dark energy and the danger it might pose to the whole kingdom. When the scene resumes, Ya Pi is deep in thought, silently trying to process what he’s just heard.

Finally finding his voice again, the captain states that he believes that Pugnacius should face fair justice for what he’s done to Goldpaw, but the entire kingdom has been thrown into disarray with the sudden loss of both Longfang _and_ the Grand High Roller. The military council will decide what must be done with the leadership of the kingdom when they convene but with the tension in the air between the guards, the civilians, and the former Grand High Roller’s loyalists amplified by the dark energy permeating the kingdom, Ya Pi is afraid that things will escalate to the point of violence before any of his superiors can arrive.

However, if the ka-tet can restore Pugnacius to an uncorrupted state, they may be able to not only dispel the dark energy currently suffocating Goldpaw but also restore a bit of normalcy to the kingdom before it descends into complete anarchy. Batu asks if restoring Pugnacius to power won’t just piss off the citizens even more, but Ya Pi assures him that this would just be a stopgap measure to keep the remaining Goldpaw government from further splintering into factions (as it has between his soldiers and the Palace officials). Remembering her conversation with Roland at the end of the last chapter, Tani asks if it’s really okay to just pretend that everything will get better if they can wake up Pugnacius, even when there are still a lot of problems that Goldpaw needs to solve such as the loss of their Kingmaker.

After Lofty reminds her that things will undoubtedly get better solely through the removal of all this dark energy, Roland remarks that appearance does make a difference in whether people trust a leader or not. A lot of leadership is making people believe that you’re in total control of the situation and know what you’re doing (even when you’re just barely keeping up and flying by the seat of your pants). For the benefit of the rest of the ka-tet (but mostly Evan), he explains again that some people will dig in their heels and resist change (even positive change, as was the case with many of the laws he’s tried to pass during his time as President) if it disrupts their way of life to an extent greater than what they’re willing to tolerate. People might be willing to accept Pugnacius as a ruler for now if that means they’d have one less thing to worry about in this uncertain time.

Ya Pi is quick to clarify that Pugnacius would have to provide a very good reason for his actions under the control of the Mandarin in order to keep even the smallest sliver of his power as a magistrate. But the return of the Grand High Roller even as just a figurehead would at least calm down the current situation for some, as many people in the kingdom are scared and confused by all these drastic changes. (Others won’t be as pleased, but he hopes that a formalized transition of power when his superiors arrive will set their doubts to rest.) Since they can’t bring back Longfang, this is Goldpaw’s best bet to present a united front to the rest of the world and not appear weak and helpless without their Kingmaker.

To that end, the captain asks the ka-tet what their next move will be. Evan tells him of their plan to research Pugnacius’s condition and the possible identity of the Kingsbond thief at the Goldpaw library. Ya Pi gives them his blessing, though he notes that he has no authority to force Boddly to let them have access to the library. (None of the previous Grand High Rollers have ever been foolish enough to attempt to do so either.) But she did grant them access in order to have evidence for the trial against Pugnacius, perhaps she’ll be in a generous mood once again?

Alas for the ka-tet, this is not the case. Even though the fate of the kingdom of Goldpaw may be at stake, Boddly still refuses to give the ka-tet a library card without first performing some fetch quests for her. And thus begin The Trials of Boddly.

* * *

( _In the original game, the in-universe justification for the glorified fetch quests that make up a bulk of this chapter’s story content is that Boddly is looking into the future with her seer powers and giving Evan the abilities and knowledge he’ll need later on in the guise of “running errands”. The third task functions as an advanced Skirmish tutorial and ensures that the player has at least four units to fight the Horned One with even if they don’t go out of their way to recruit more citizens who can participate in that plot-mandatory minigame. So within the context of the game, Boddly forcing Evan to recruit Bai Gon and Min Ti is her indirectly preparing him for this later battle._

_But what narrative function do the other two tasks serve? The first task results in Li Li moving to Evermore and Evan learning Bridge. But that spell is never used again in a plot-related context, and Li Li’s role in the late game could have been fulfilled by various other citizens with magic-related expertise if the player were forced to recruit them. The second task centers around the boss battle with the Incineraptor, which doesn’t teach the player anything new aside from that non-Kingmaker bosses sometimes have DM attacks. (It was probably included because otherwise there’d be no mini-boss/boss battles in the entire chapter otherwise.)_

_In the name of story-gameplay integration, the three tasks will be expanded upon in the reworking in order to give them some narrative value rather than just being sidequests acting as story content in order to pad out the chapter.)_

* * *

**Task 1 - The Rose**

Locating the red, red rose requires learning Bridge. In the reworking, Boddly isn’t going to just give out the name of the person who can teach Evan the spell. Instead, the librarian just tells Evan to seek out “the greatest curse-breaker currently residing in the kingdom, who is currently very distressed at the events that have taken place" as the only hint she’s willing to give. Once outside the library, the ka-tet conclude that their best bet will be to ask the locals for information as to who this person might be.

[ **Gameplay Change** : To find Li Li, Evan must first talk to three citizens of Goldpaw—whose locations are marked on the mini-map—before she appears in her usual spot. These three NPCs can be spoken to in any order.] Along the way, Evan gains more perspective on the public sentiments in Goldpaw regarding Pugnacius and the ka-tet’s actions.

Ah Chu the blacksmith praises the ka-tet for exposing Pugnacius as the fraud he is! Sure, things are pretty bad for the kingdom now...but just like a bad wound, the situation has to get worse before it gets better. Batu comments that she’s a brave one to be openly lambasting the corruption of Pugnacius within the hearing range of the city guards, and Ah Chu barks that she doesn’t care about what those military sycophants hear or think! If she wasn’t so busy trying to help the elderly and families in need get ahold of the necessities they no longer have access to, she’d go up to the square and give them a piece of her mind…

Before she does that, Evan asks her about any curse-breakers in Goldpaw that she might’ve heard of. Ah Chu admits that as a metalworker, she usually doesn’t pay much attention to the magic-users of Goldpaw, not even the fortune tellers. (And she’s definitely stopped paying them any mind after learning about the truth of the kingdom’s gambling and luck culture.) Though there was a young lady who helped her purify a cursed knife one time…Ah Chu can’t recall her name, only that she had white fur because she was very upset when she’d gotten some soot on her paws, bemoaning that she’d have to take a long bath in order to get it out.

Da Xing the herbalist, on the other hand, berates the ka-tet for being so careless in the way that they publicly revealed what Pugnacius and the former rulers of the kingdom had done before fleeing to avoid facing the consequences of their actions! Yes, it is good that the truth about how Goldpaw’s government has exploited its citizens for generations has been revealed, but was the manner in which it was done worth the civil unrest that followed? He’s been working non-stop making tonics to calm down panicked citizens, many of whom don’t understand what’s going on and are frightened out of their minds due to the riots that followed after the trial and the sudden military lockdown which resulted from that. Even if they had good intentions for what they did, Evan and his people should have thought about the potential collateral damage to innocents before they acted in such a rash manner!

Evan apologies for not thinking things through and not staying to help Goldpaw in the aftermath (for the briefest of moments, Roland looks away guiltily). But he’s here now and he’s going to try to make things right. He explains that he’s looking for a curse-breaker and Da Xing assumes that he’s trying to break some enchantment that the Mandarin may have placed upon the Grand High Roller. (It isn’t, but the ka-tet note to themselves afterward that it’s not a bad idea…) The herbalist also doesn’t mess with magic much, but he can recall a vague memory of a young lady who asked him about herbs that could be used in order to boost the properties of spells. He can’t recall anything about her now, only that she was short and had a purple hat that she refused to remove indoors—which the old dog found very rude.

The ka-tet doesn’t even get close enough to Long Mein to start asking about the curse-breaker; the moment he spots them the guard trainee is howling that he’s found the rabble-rousers who made up all those lies about Master Pugnacuis and calling for reinforcements. Quickly Traveling to another part of the city gets him off their tails, and Lofty suggests that perhaps they ought to ask someone less crazy next time.

One the ka-tet have talked to (or attempted talking to) these three citizens, another young trainee of the guard seeks out the ka-tet to apologize for her brother’s rude words. Yung Mein explains that her brother really looked up to Pugnacius as a leader and wanted to become the greatest warrior in Goldpaw because he believed it would be an honor to serve such a great soothsayer. Learning about the truth of the kingdom and the deceit carried out by the Grand High Rollers really crushed his spirits; Yung Mein thinks he’s just deep in denial right now.

For what it’s worth, she doesn’t blame the ka-tet for what they did: they were just trying to help their friend who got ripped off by Pugancius as well. Still, Yung Mein is really worried about the state of the nation with their leader currently incapacitated; there’s a lot of tension between the normal folk and the military right now, and even Captain Ya Pi seems uncertain about how long this situation will last. She doesn’t want to have to fight any angry civilians just because she’s a trainee guard! She should be protecting the people of her kingdom, not attacking them!

Evan promises her that they’re going to do everything they can to restore Goldpaw to some semblance of normalcy before asking her if she knows a short curse-breaker with white fur and a purple hat. Yung Mein’s eyes light up in recognition and asks if they’re talking about Li Li before directing the ka-tet to a small bridge down a flight of stairs from the library, where the fortune teller usually can be found.

Li Li is still distraught about Master Pugnacius’s deception and the bigger secret about the kingdom; how could she—with all her skill at fortune-telling and mastery of magic—have fallen for his ruse so easily? In the reworking, Evan does not yet have an excuse for Pugnacius’s actions but Lofty still tries to get him to recruit Li Li for his own kingdom if just being here is giving her so much grief. The reworking explicitly makes the pointless side quest to slay three skeleplasms just as much about Evan proving that he can keep his word as it is about Li Li trying to regain a sense of control during this time of emotional turmoil when she apologizes for sending him on a worthless errand just to see if he would. Lofty's a bit put off, but Evan is more understanding.

After a quick research break back in Evermore, Li Li teaches Evan the Bridge spell and the ka-tet finds the red, red rose, which “blooms no more than once every few decades” according to the item description. The rose is plucked, ~~the nexus within is destroyed, the Crimson King cackles madly as the Dark Tower collapses and all of reality as we know it along with it~~ and Boddly hands out the next task.

* * *

**Task 2 - The Horn ~~of Eld~~**

For the next task, [ **Gameplay Change** : Boddly makes Evan learn the Rejuvenate instead of handing him a random de-aging serum that clearly shouldn’t work on plants or at all, otherwise Boddly wouldn’t look as old. ( _The player will need to learn Rejuvenate to complete all the Tainted Monster Hunts AND it becomes plot-relevant in Hydropolis one chapter later, so they might as well learn it now as they learned Bridge._ ) There will be other optional spells to learn in the later levels.] Roland quips afterward that at least Evan is learning some more magic, and this spell will at least be more generally useful than the last one.

Since the Incineraptor can be found in Cloudcoil Canyon, Batu convinces Evan to let him make a brief stop at the Southern Sky Pirates’ Base to “hand in his resignation” as a Sky Pirate Chief now that he’s committed to staying in Evermore. Chingis and Khunbish will also be coming along to tie up loose ends and pick up the things they’d left behind when they thought they were coming back eventually. While in Evermore to pick up the sky pirates and research this new spell, Evan decides to ask their new magic expert with a specialty in dispelling curses to take a look at Master Pugnacius and see if he’s under some sort of curse while they’re busy fighting a fire-breathing wyrm. Her face twists into an expression of disgust at the very notion, but before she can answer Lofty reminds Evan that the former Grand High Roller’s people have barricaded themselves in the Palace. They probably won’t be letting anyone in to check on him…

Li Li reluctantly informs them that she actually does know many of Pugnacius’s court sorcerers due to her curse-breaking reputation; if anyone has a chance of being allowed into the Palace at this time, it’s probably her. However, she’s still harboring resentment towards Pugnacius for his duplicity. So Evan asks her to do it for the sake of the people of Goldpaw rather than it’s former leader. After a moment’s consideration, Li Li agrees to go for the sake of Goldpaw’s citizens _and_ because Evan himself asked her to do so. Lofty keeps wiggling his eyebrows at Evan and giggling to himself, which Evan tries in vain to ignore as they rejoin the others.

The ka-tet plus Chingis and Khunbish Travel to the Base, and are met with warm greetings and confused looks. At least, the former Sky Pirates of the group are. An excitable mob of children rushes to Tani, shouting that they all saw her on the Leafbook, showing that mean old dog and his Kingmaker who’s the boss! As some older Sky Pirates head over to Chingis and Khunbish to tease them about not being able to hack it in the kid’s new kingdom (sparing only passing glances and the occasional grunt of acknowledgement to Evan, Roland, and Lofty), Batu pulls Gökhan aside to have a long conversation, out of earshot to even Evan.

Considering their previous experiences with the Sky Pirates, Evan and Roland are content enough with the lack of hostility from the Sky Pirates this time around to mind their otherwise apathetic reception. (Lofty, on the other hand, is a bit miffed at their curtness.) The outsiders watch as Batu squares up his shoulders before he and Gökhan walk up to the highest platform up above, where several importantly-dressed Sky Pirates wait for them. Even if they wanted to listen in, the distance and the roaring winds of the canyon make the conversation inaudible to those below.

As they watch the exchange from their vantage point Tani manages to shake her fanclub off and joins the waiting party. She explains to the rest of the ka-tet that there was always friction between Batu and some members of the council due to his status as an outsider, so they probably won’t be too sad to see him go. Gökhan on the other hand is a native to Sky Pirate culture, so his promotion to Chief has no chance of being contested by the Council. Evan, Roland, and Lofty are surprised to learn that Batu wasn’t always a Sky Pirate and Evan asks Tani what he used to be before. She replies thoughtfully that she’s never really asked him…

Khunbish remarks that Batu’s never told _anyone_ what he used to do before joining the Sky Pirates, not even his two most trusted lieutenants, as he and Chingis join the ka-tet in observing the conversation above. Tani scoffs back that first of all, if she doesn’t know something about Batu, then no one does. Secondly, why aren’t Batu’s “most trusted lieutenants'' up there with him to speak to the Council members? Chingis explains that Batu told them “it was somethin’ he needed to do himself” and sent them away. Even he seemed surprised that the Council members were already at the Base when they got here...

The ka-tet look back up at the proceedings with renewed interest. Suddenly, indistinct but raised voices can be heard above over the wind. But before Tani can prod Chingis and Khunbish to get up there and support him, the moment of tension is over. Batu comes back with Gökhan, who will officially be taking Batu’s place permanently now that the Sky Pirate Council has given him their blessing. For his part, Batu bears his replacement no ill will—he slaps the new Chief on the back fondly and declares that there’s no one else he’d trust to take care of the Southern Base than Gökhan. (In the background, Khunbish has a look of _utter betrayal_ on his face while Chingis is trying to suppress a snicker.)

With his new position of authority made official, Gökhan himself wants to talk to Evan about a potential diplomatic relationship between the Sky Pirates and Evermore—provided that Evermore is still standing by the end of the week anyway. He’d just been discussing what the change in leadership down in Ding Dong Dell might mean for the Sky Pirates in the long term, especially since intruders (several of them mousefolk) passing through the canyon have been spotted recently, with the Sky Pirate Council members when the ka-tet showed up. With Evermore just beginning life as a new kingdom and the Southern Base losing a bunch of people (including a long-time Chief), they’ve been considering a formal alliance with an up-and-coming power which they’d be on more even ground with as opposed to one of the older and more established nations.

Before Evan can make another impulsive decision on policy matters, Roland cuts in and asks Gökhan if the Council members approved of this plan. And what of the Chiefs of the other Bases? Gohkan admits that he hasn’t gotten the approval of everyone just yet, but this proposed arrangement would only be between the Southern Base and Evermore. That won’t do, replies Roland as Batu cringes behind him. What if the Southern Base were to get into a conflict with another Sky Pirate Base? Will Evermore be obliged to take sides in a Sky Pirate civil war? No, Evermore will only make a formal alliance with the Sky Pirates as a collective, or not at all.

As Evan nods along, not having considered that possibility at all until Roland pointed it out, Tani and Lofty both shoot a glare at the chief consul for usurping the king’s authority again. (It’s starting to become a habit...) Crossing his arms, Gökhan grumbles that Evermore drives a hard bargain...but he’ll see what he can do. Evan pipes up and tells the new Chief that he’d be happy to make an alliance once he has the rest of the Sky Pirates on board, but right now they’ve got to go and deal with the matter of Goldpaw first. As the ka-tet walks away, Gökhan internally marvels at how quickly this kid has gone from a scared little boy to someone who can affect the fate of one of the great nations. He absolutely has to sell the idea of an alliance to Evermore with the other Sky Pirate leaders now...

The game resumes in the Southern Base and the Sky Pirate NPCs milling about the area have new dialogue regarding the events that have unfolded. Most of them are floored that Chief Batu has up and left for Evermore, with a couple of them wondering what kind of trickery Evan is using to get people to just leave everything behind and join his kingdom. Some of the older Sky Pirates aren’t as surprised, with one even bold enough to suggest that maybe it’s better this way for both them and Batu.

Until the Incineraptor is defeated, Chingis and Khunbish will be hanging around the base with some unique dialogue as well. Chingis admits that he will miss this place, especially after coming back to say his last goodbyes. (Even if the Southern Base isn’t that far from Evermore at all.) But he promised the Boss he’d go, so that is what he’ll do. On the other hand, Khunbish will not miss being out here, vulnerable to surprise attacks and the threat of rolling out of his hammock at night and plummeting into the canyon below—he’s more than happy to have moved up in the world. The former sky pirate is still sore about Gökhan’s promotion since he wanted to be Batu’s successor in the Southern Base. He’ll just have to get a better gig in Evermore then!

( _The original game doesn’t require the player to ever go back to the Sky Pirates’ Base after Chapter Three since aside from Munokhoi’s recruitment quest, there’s only one other sidequest that takes place there. The player will be back a couple of times more in the reworking, but this trip back will at least make them notice that there’s a new citizen to recruit here. Speaking of which:_ )

[ **Gameplay Change** : Munokhoi ( **Quest 3** ) - The only major addition to this side quest is some of the other sky pirates around the base showing up in cutscenes after Munokhoi disappears to remark that he’s a weirdo even among the sky pirates. He’s quiet and doesn’t like fighting or flying all that much...one even comments that she’s surprised that he’s lasted as long as he has here. Tani gets indignant on Munokhoi’s behalf and tells Evan that he has to let the other sky pirate join Evermore, where they’ll be much more accepting of people who don’t really fit the mold elsewhere. That’s their new ethos after all. Evan was already open to the idea, but agrees with her fervor all the same.]

* * *

The grimalkin merchant in Cloudcoil Canyon has made friends with the local Sky Pirates and now has a nice little hut for his wares and a stable for his llapaca at the beginning of the dungeon. Evan offers him a place in his kingdom but he declines, saying that he’s found he likes the challenge of living out in the wilderness. Plus, he’s not hurting for business with all the Sky Pirates and other folks coming through the canyon lately. Batu and Tani exchange worried looks at this and get the merchant to promise to report all this unusual activity to the Sky Pirates when he gets a chance.

On their way up to the Incineraptor’s aerie, a conversation among the party begins with Roland wondering out loud how many types of dragon can be found in this world (as this was the impression of the monster he’d gotten from Boddly’s description). Evan automatically corrects him on semantics; Incineraptors are a type of wyrm, not a true dragon. When Roland asks what the difference is, Lofty pipes up and says that the true dragons were flippin’ massive! If Boddly had asked for one of _their_ horns, they’d probably be better off just giving up!

Tani adds that no one has seen a true dragon in years but according to the tales told around the Sky Pirate’s campfires, the huge bones that litter the canyons belonged to them. Batu grumbles that to the Sky Pirates, the legend of the true dragons is given the same kind of reverence that the people living in the great nations hold for their Kingmakers. The true dragons claimed the mountains as their own and bowed to no king...which is probably why they were hunted out of existence by poachers or fighters looking for a challenge.

Once Evan brings a dead prop-leaf clover back to life and the ka-tet scales the cliff face, the Incineraptor appears and the boss battle is on. Once the wyrm is slain and the horn acquired, Batu assures Evan and Roland that while the Incineraptors aren’t common, they haven’t wiped out an endangered species or anything before they Travel back to Goldpaw to accept their final quest.

* * *

**Task 3 - The ~~Drawing~~ Drafting of the Three**

( _The final task needs the least amount of changes since it already accomplishes something important in the original game, as mentioned earlier. The biggest change in the reworking will be cutting down on the pointless sidequests in favor of more narrative content._ )

As Evan’s original idea for Evermore’s purpose was "a kingdom without war or fighting”, he’s more visibly conflicted over Boddly’s quest requiring him to amass more military power, even if it’s only a few soldiers from Goldpaw. Batu brings up the bandit attack from earlier and tells him that there are just some people who won’t respond to anything other than violence.

Loathe as Roland is to agree with him on this point, Batu is right: Evermore needs an army right now since they have no other way to defend themselves if someone were to attack the kingdom. Once Evermore has earned its place as a formidable nation, then Evan can consider demilitarization. But for the moment, Evan’s brand new kingdom needs all the help it can get to not be seen as easy pickings for potential invading armies, especially if that Kingsbond thief decides to strike again. Evan resignedly accepts this necessary evil and the ka-tet heads out to find Gao Jia.

[ **Gameplay Change** : After getting some omelet for Gao Jia, there are no more fetch quests needed to recruit the other two soldiers needed for this task. ( _The omelet sidequest has the secondary purpose of introducing the player to the food/cooking mechanic in Evermore, but the other two sidequests required to gain the other new citizens are just pointless busywork._ )] Instead, Gao Jia himself will come along with the ka-tet to convince Bai Gon and Min Ti to join him in Evermore.

Bai Gon is quite upset that the country he and (most of) his family have served under for generations was built upon a giant lie. Gao Jia manages to convince him to come to Evermore and help train the next generation not to repeat the mistakes of their elders, just as Bai Gon has done for countless Goldpaw soldiers. Min Ti is eager to repay the debt she owes to Gao Jia and joins without further prompting ( _or pointless fetch questing_ ). It also helps that Evermore now has its own official Hunter’s Lodge, and she swears that she will work to bring it and Evan’s kingdom some notoriety with her hunting skills, honed by her family over generations.

Recruiting the new Skirmish commanders might’ve been easy, but the new challenge for Evan arrives once they meet up with their counterparts already installed at Evermore. The two groups immediately get off on the wrong foot; the cool and disciplined Goldpaw ex-soldiers turn their noses up at the rowdy and rambunctious former Sky Pirates, who have the same opinion towards the snooty city dogs. Their respective commanders are similarly dismissive of each other, and Evan spends the whole Skirmish not only dealing with the bandits but also mediating the conflict between his own units. But in the end, the forces of Evermore prevail and both groups find enough common ground to be well on their way to becoming a proper unified force. (However, there will still be some culture clashes that Evan will have to deal with in the next chapter.)

* * *

When Boddly finally hands over the much-coveted library card, she also informs the party that Li Li stopped by while they were out fighting for her stone and left them a message before heading back to Evermore. The young sorceress was able to gain access to the still comatose Grand High Roller, but aside from the immense amounts of darkness energy, she couldn’t find anything wrong with Pugnacius no matter how hard she tried. However, an unconscious person should not be able to produce that strong of a dark aura, especially since the Grand High Roller never had any interest in the dark arts (or so say the Palace retainers). The only plausible explanation Li Li could come up with is that whatever is wrong with Pugnacius must be connected to his Soulmate. ( _Leander knows about Soulmates in the original game, so it stands to reason that the other major magic expert in Evermore should probably know about them as well._ )

> **Tani** , incredulously: “Soulmate? He’s in a state because he’s _in love_?”

Lofty pipes up that it’s probably not _that type_ of Soulmate.

Now armed with a library card, Roland splits up the research tasks for the ka-tet: Tani and Lofty will look for information on Kingsbonds and any shady character who would have the power to steal one. Evan will look up Soulmates (whatever those are) and how that would be able to help Pugnacius. This leaves Roland to look up information on the other kingdoms (and other things). Batu has never even been inside of a library until now ( _according to a line of dialogue from him in the throne room during this quest in the original game_ ), so he can... go get everyone else snacks or something. (Batu raises an eyebrow at this, before deciding to head out and find some means to entertain himself for a couple of hours instead.)

As the rest of the ka-tet hits the books (not literally; library card or not, Boddly would kill them), the player gains control of Roland as he starts picking through the shelves to find books about the history of the biggest nations of this world: Goldpaw, Hydropolis, Broadleaf, and Ding Dong Dell. ( _The book on Allegoria won’t appear in the library until the next chapter._ ) He’s only skim-reading just long enough to learn the important details, and the scene ends with him making a beeline for the book mentioning the Other World he saw earlier as soon as he’s sure that the rest of the ka-tet is not paying attention to him.


	14. Ch.4.4 - Boddly ex Machina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which tensions in Goldpaw reach a boiling point and the librarian who can see the future has to step in to make sure the present comes to pass in a certain time frame, or everything as she knows it is history.

## Chapter Four: One Nation, Underdog (Part Four)

**5pm approx., Goldpaw Library, Day Five**

Tani slumps down in her seat in front of a massive pile of books, officially bored out of her mind. Sure she can _read_ , but sky pirate life hasn’t properly prepared her for serious academic research at all. (The only reading materials she had access to were any books pinched from unlucky travelers.) All of these books about kingdoms that are long gone and their kingmakers are going to put her to sleep. The writers have even found a way to make all the interesting bits, like the wars and important battles, super dry and boring! Tani feels like she’s been here for _years_!

But she doesn’t want to admit that she’s struggling harder than anyone else in the building right now—even _Lofty_ , who is deep in a stack of books and quietly (or quietly enough that all Boddly can do is glare at him) giggling to himself while reading. Roland (former lawyer, politician) and Evan (huge bookworm) seem very engrossed in whatever they’re reading as well. She, on the other hand, has her Leafbook viewer out and has been checking out her feed while only pretending to research. So far, none of the ka-tet seem to have noticed (but she’s pretty sure that Boddly has and is judging her accordingly).

Should she go out and make sure her father hasn’t gotten himself into trouble? But that would mean admitting that she hasn’t found anything after all this time… With a frustrated sigh, Tani concedes that the books have won this round and walks over to see if Evan has had better luck finding some answers. But as she walks across the room, she can hear some faint sniffling from Evan’s huge pile of books. She finds him staring down at a book, barely holding back tears. Tani starts to back away, but then Evan’s ears prick up as they catch the sound of her footsteps.

With no chance to escape now, Tani quietly asks him what’s wrong. Evan quickly dabs at the corners of his eyes with his sleeves as she looks over his shoulder at the book that he’s reading. She’s surprised to see a spellbook in front of him; a rather complicated one by the looks of it, but just a spellbook nonetheless.

After clearing his throat, Evan explains that the castle library back in Ding Dong Dell has this very same spellbook. He picked it up one day when he was just starting to learn magic and found this spell, Lifeline, while he was flipping through the pages. The spell (the very same one Evan mentioned back in Chapter One during his conversation with Roland and Nella in Ding Dong Well) has a chance to save a person from near death, so he went to Nella to ask her to teach it to him. When she asked why he was so keen on learning it, he told her that it seemed like a spell that a king should know in order to help his people. (Tani nods along.) In response, Nella patted him on the head and told him that he wasn’t quite ready to learn such a difficult spell yet, but when the time came she’d be happy to help him learn it.

> **Evan** , with a sniff: “If I had been able to cast this spell, maybe I would have been able to save her…”
> 
> **Tani** , gently: “Hey, come on now. What happened wasn’t your fault; I don’t think that Nella would have wanted you to blame yourself for what happened...”

She peers over at the spellbook again. It does look like a very complex enchantment, with a lot of fancy runes she’s never seen before. But it does seem like the kind of spell that would help Evan become the kind of king he wants to become (kind, helpful, and a peacemaker), and it clearly means a lot to him… Well, that settles it then! Even though she’s no scholar and she only knows a bit of magic, Tani declares that she’ll help Evan learn Lifeline! (A chorus of shushes echoes throughout the whole library and Tani quickly clamps her mouth shut.)

While Evan (quietly) tries to stutter out a response, Tani leans over so that she’s all up in Evan’s personal space as she looks closely at the book again. Lifeline is made up of many interesting symbols looping around each other in circular patterns that make her go cross-eyed trying to follow them all, but she spots a common repeating rune and asks if this one is part of another spell that Evan knows. It isn’t, but Evan nudges Tani aside so that he can flip back to the beginning of the book where the most basic spells are. Once he finds that base spell, Healing Touch, Tani figures that he should learn this spell first. Maybe learning the rest of Lifeline will become easier to comprehend after that.

Evan’s about to open his mouth to argue, then realizes that she might have a point. And if the ka-tet is going to be fighting more tough monsters and rogue Realmwreckers, maybe the rest of the ka-tet should learn this healing spell too? Tani is quick to remind him that her dad isn’t the best at casting spells and Roland’s world supposedly doesn’t even have magic. Perhaps they can start with trying to figure out Healing Touch just between themselves for now.

* * *

( _One potential reason that the combat in Revenant Kingdom was so poorly balanced at the game’s launch might have been due to the lack of a reliable source of healing outside of using items until Bracken joins the party in Chapter Six. The higgledies act as a passive healing system (as long as the player equips the right ones) as do the green balls of health that Lofty throws out onto the field at random during battles, but neither of these options are directly controlled by the player in battle. The dedicated healing abilities of specific higgledies depend upon timing, RNG, and the player getting to the right location on the battlefield to use that ability._ White Witch _had dedicated healing spells for Oliver (Healing Hand and Healing Touch), but Evan doesn’t get anything like that until he can learn Lifeline, which doesn’t happen until late in the game. As a result, the combat encounters would have to be balanced around the lack of dedicated player healing mechanics, leading to the combat being deemed “too easy” by many players._

 _Aside from the in-universe justification laid out in the (rewrite), giving Evan and Tani Healing Touch as an ability will help with balancing the game because once the player has a reliable source of healing, the combat difficulty can be increased without the developers worrying that the fights will be too difficult for a player who hasn’t figured out the higgledy system or has poor luck with the RNG. If the developers wanted the players to pay more attention to the higgledy system, they should have made it more prominent in the long tutorial section that is this chapter in the original game._ )

[ **Gameplay Change** : Healing Touch is now a spell available to Evan and Tani that costs 3MP to use. It will only heal a relatively small amount of health and will quickly become obsolete as the characters level up and their hit points increase. It can be upgraded at the Evermore Spellworks, but it does not have an upgraded form at full zing and will quickly become obsolete with the right combination of higgledies once the player has had some time to build up their stores of upgrade materials. However, the player hasn’t been given that opportunity as of yet so Healing Touch will fill in the need for a dedicated healing mechanic for now. (Later on in the game, Lifeline will be another spell acquired by Evan and Tani at a plot-related moment in the storyline.)

The acquisition of this ability also marks a spike in the difficulty of the game as unless the player has been grinding in between story missions, they’re going to need a way to heal in order to get through the upcoming bossfight at the end of the chapter…]

* * *

> **Boddly** , irritably: “No spell-casting in the library!”

Two flashes of the lights that accompany a character learning or upgrading a new spell plus Boddly’s chiding get Roland and Lofty to look up from their respective reading materials. Evan and Tani sheepishly apologize to everyone around them for the disruption, which only results in them getting shushed at en masse. Out of respect to Boddly (or at least so they don’t get their new library card revoked), the ka-tet decides to end their research session right there. They convene right in front of the library entrance to go over what they’ve learned.

Tani admits that her search didn’t turn up anything very useful. None of the books said anything about stolen Kingsbonds; all of the information she could find about Kingsbonds was how they are formed ( _which the player has already seen in Chapter Two_ ) and how they are broken. (This information will all be available in the library book that explains Kingsbonds and King's Cradles so the player can review the lore later if they so choose.) In the reworking, the ruler of a kingdom passing away (by natural or violent means) will leave the Kingmaker dormant until a potential successor is chosen to form a new Kingsbond, so that bond with the past ruler is only considered severed. A truly broken Kingsbond only occurs when either the Kingmaker itself is killed or the kingdom that the Kingmaker is attached to is destroyed. The Kingmaker stays alive as long as the kingdom remains, but it will die along with the kingdom should it be wiped out utterly. When that happens, a new Kingmaker will be able to be called upon in the king’s cradle that produced the previous Kingmaker. This new Kingmaker will be another entity entirely, totally disconnected from the former being.

Lofty butts in to comment that the guardian spirit of the Cradle of Light told him that his predecessor was “a real hot-head”, but that’s all that he knows about them. ( _This former Kingmaker is the fire-breathing dragon seen in the opening cutscene._ ) Since Pugnacius remains alive, Goldpaw is still intact (despite the social unrest within), the Grand High Roller’s Kingsbond was intact when the snake-headed thief absconded with it, and Longfang is still alive (the ka-tet are not nearly strong enough to kill a Kingmaker themselves, it would take a whole army or two to manage that), this puts Goldpaw in an awkward position. They can’t just get a new Kingmaker from the closest king’s cradle, the Cradle of Fire, since Longfang is still alive but there’s no way to “retame” him (even if they were to restore Pugnacius) unless they get his Kingsbond back from the fake Mandarin (if that’s even possible).

Evan wonders out loud how Goldpaw will cope without the protection of a Kingmaker in the long term, but Tani scoffs that the Sky Pirates have done so for a while—whoever steps into Pugnacius’s role will figure it out. Roland agrees that this is something that Evan (and Evermore by extension) needs to stay out of, especially since he just promised Ya Pi that they wouldn’t meddle anymore. He asks Lofty what he’s managed to find, and Lofty announces that he might have a lead on who their Kingsbond thief could be. But...he wants to keep them in suspense and so prompts the other two to go first.

Roland and Tani shoot him some annoyed glares, so Evan decides to go next in the exposition dump. The information he found concerning Soulmates was very sparse and non-conclusive (a reference here, a fragment there), as a lot of books seemed to dismiss the notion as something out of a fairy tale. The texts that did take the concept seriously amounted to the notion of each sentient being in one world having another soul that they were connected to in another world. The fates of these Soulmates (who are “sometimes different in form, but always alike in manner” according to one description) are intertwined, so something happening to one will affect the other half in their own world as well. In some cases, one of the halves dying will cause the death of the other, but none of the books were clear on the conditions of this.

There was also something called “Brokenheartedness” that was referenced a lot in association with Soulmates, but none of the texts Evan found had any explanation for that or if there was a way to track down a specific Soulmate. Roland evasively comments that he couldn’t find anything related to the latter, but one of the books that he _just so happened_ to check (and kept out of sight from the rest of the ka-tet so that they wouldn’t get the wrong idea) had some information on that particular subject.

During this whole exchange, Boddly has been at her desk, pretending not to notice their conversation (except to tutt at them when someone raises their voice a decibel too loudly). But at the mention of Brokenheartedness, she seems to perk up and listen intently, although the ka-tet are too engrossed in their discussion to notice this.

Roland explains that the book described Brokenheartedness as a condition that occurs in people who had a piece of their heart missing, which results in that person entering a state in which their personality undergoes a drastic shift depending upon the missing piece. (He assumes that this is more of an esoteric concept, as having a piece of one’s actual heart in his world usually results in the individual involved having surgery or being dead.) Other symptoms include dull, lifeless eyes and if the person is left untreated for a long time they might also start to manifest an aura of dark energy that takes the form of purple smoke.

The rest of the ka-tet exchanges uneasy looks at that description that fits Pugnacius to a tee. Roland continues explaining that the purple smoke means that a being of dark energy has manifested and will need to be defeated before the person can be healed. Puzzled, Tani remarks that there was nothing like that around Pugnacius when they saw him explode with purple smoke. Evan recalls that Li Li said that the Grand High Roller’s Soulmate was the issue, and Roland confirms that according to the book, people can supposedly be infected with Brokenheartedness by proxy if their Soulmate is missing a piece of their heart.

( _All of this information will be added to the library book on Soulmates that can be read by the player anytime after this cutscene._ )

Lofty asks if this book that Roland found _just so happened_ to have instructions on how to get to this other world so that they could find Pugnacius’s Soulmate. Roland regretfully replies that he could only find mentions of a spell to get to another world, but not the spell’s actual name. (And he searched desperately for a spellbook that contained his potential ticket home, but found nothing.) Cheekily, Lofty wonders out loud if Roland went looking for that spell because he’s getting sick of the ka-tet’s company. (He says it in an obviously teasing manner, but the question still makes Evan’s ears droop a little at the thought.)

Roland defensively reminds him that he _runs a country_ back in his own world; it’s been about a week since he’s arrived in this world and who knows what has happened during his period of absence? Evan seems to consider this as Tani glumly asks if Roland will really be leaving then once he can find a way back to his own world. In turn, he reminds her of the promise that he made to Evan. If Evan’s been working tirelessly to keep his promise to Nella, then Roland won’t allow himself to leave this world permanently until the conditions of his own promise have been fulfilled. (That is unless Andoria’s in really dire straits once he returns and needs him more. But Roland doesn’t say that part out loud.)

There was one last oddity that Roland came across in his search: underneath the paragraph explaining the corresponding Brokenheartedness in Soulmates was an illustration that looked exactly like the green locket that Niall gave Evan in the previous chapter. However, the book contained no explanation for the image’s inclusion or what the purpose of the bauble might be.

> **Tani** , frustrated: “Flippin’ heck, did Niall seriously just foist this piece of junk on us under false pretenses because no one knows what it is supposed to be?”
> 
> **Boddly** , walking over: “Hmph! Shame on you, loud girl, referring to The Locket of the Pure-Hearted One™ as a mere “piece of junk”!”

( _In the original game, the reveal that Boddly actually is a seer comes out of nowhere and only serves to provide flimsy support for the Ferdinand twist. In the reworking, she and Niall will play a more important behind the scenes role in order to give the broader conflict more scope and size without slowing the main plot down. The reworking has already begun to lean into the concept of Boddly ex Machina, to make it more obvious that she’s actively trying to nudge the plot along without the ka-tet becoming aware of her interference. What are her reasons for doing so? Well, if the world is destroyed, then what shall happen to all her poor bookie-wookies?_ )

Boddly confesses that she knew from the start that Evan was no ordinary boy and the Locket he carries was no ordinary trinket. If it has found its way into his hands, he must be pure of heart enough to be able to use it—as the name suggests. Evan pulls out the Locket as Boddly explains that it was created by great and powerful wizards long ago (in another world, but the ka-tet isn’t ready to learn about that yet) who developed the branch of sorcery that is nowadays known as the Old Magic. One such wizard, who was also a king, commissioned one of his subjects to make a collection of both powerful and useful spells...including one that allowed the caster to travel to other worlds. (She has Roland’s full attention now.)

Alas, Boddly sighs—loathe to admit that the vast collection contained in her library is incomplete—no remaining complete copies of that particular spell book exist in this world anymore. However, she does have in her possession the pages for the Take Heart and Give Heart, the two spells that will allow Evan to use the Locket to store Pieces of Heart and fix the Brokenhearted by restoring their missing virtues. Boddly gives those up without asking for any ridiculous favors—which someone will comment on later as being uncharacteristically generous of her—claiming that they’re useless to her since Evan needs the spells to make the Locket function (and she’s got copies that are in much better condition).

Unfortunately, they won’t be of much help to Pugnacius’s Soulmate without the spell to travel to another world—Gateway. Glancing over at the pages, Evan recognizes the style of writing and pulls out the page with Gateway that he got in the last chapter. Puzzled, the ka-tet asks him how he got his hands on a lost Old Magic spell without them noticing. They've been with him this entire time, when did he get this page? Boddly is shocked (but perhaps not nearly as shocked as she ought to be, all things considered) and also demands to know where Evan got the long lost page from. Evan hesitantly explains that he sort of got it from a dream; he’s honestly not quite sure just how exactly it came to be in his possession, it’s kind of hard to explain...

Tani flippantly remarks on how convenient it is that Evan should just so happen to have the exact spell they need right now just sitting there in his pocket. Lofty, sounding somewhat more concerned than usual, tries to ask Evan exactly what he means when he says that he got the spell from a dream. However, Roland interrupts, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth. Trying to keep the impatience out of his voice, he asks if Evan can cast the spell. As Gateway is much more simple than Lifeline, Evan tells him that he can do it but he’ll need a much larger space than the library as the first casting of the spell requires the creation of a large magical construct in order to make a safe pathway between the worlds.

Examining the spellbook page further, Evan reads out loud that it’s difficult for a first-time caster to summon a Gateway to a specific world that they have no immediate connection to...unless that wizard just so happens to have someone from that world with them to act as a catalyst to give the spell direction. Everyone glances in Roland’s direction as he snarks that all of these convenient coincidences that keep piling up are making him a little uneasy.

Boddly turns her nose up at the very idea with a scoff. Does Roland really think that he’s here in this world at this specific point in history after what has happened in his own world by complete accident? Just as people are connected to their Soulmates in other worlds, the worlds themselves are connected to each other. Therefore, restoring normalcy to one world will have a similar effect in the other. If Evan casts Gateway with the intention of finding Pugnacius’s Soulmate, the spell will take him where he needs to go because of both the Locket seeking out the Brokenhearted and because Roland’s presence here means that the issues that he faces in his world are intrinsically linked to those of this world.

Weirded out by how much Boddly seems to know about him, Roland asks if that means Boddly was responsible for bringing him to this world. In response, Boddly just cackles hysterically for a full minute, mildly alarming the ka-tet. Once she’s recovered, she tells Roland that if she had that kind of power, she’d move her library somewhere in the mountains where only the most dedicated of scholars could reach her books rather than stay in such an unstable kingdom as Goldpaw. No, her only “power” is the wealth of knowledge that she has access to and it is this information that makes her certain that Roland and Evan found each other for a reason. Coincidences? Bah, she doesn’t believe in coincidences! But, you know what she does believe in?

> **Evan** , puzzled: “The power of...luck?”
> 
> **Boddly** , mischievously: “No, silly little cat-king, the power of Boddly! <3”

With a wink, she tells the ka-tet not to worry: the path forward for both them and Evermore itself will become clear very soon. All they need to do is trust in their hearts, and in each other. With that cryptic statement, she waddles back to her desk, having succeeded in her currently unspoken goals. Lofty is about to ask what the heck that’s supposed to mean, but just then a commotion is heard outside.

The doors fly open with a loud bang (to the ire of the library staff) as Batu rushes back in to report that a large, armed, and unruly mob—covered in that purple fug of darkness that Pugnacius had—is outside of the Grand High Roller’s hall right now, out for blood by the sound of it. (Tani asks him where the heck he’s been this whole time, and Batu deflects by exclaiming that they’ve got more important things to worry about.) Ya Pi’s forces are blocking their path for now, but he doesn’t know how much longer the city guard will be able to hold off that crowd with their limited numbers. Plus, there seems to be much more of that same dark energy pouring out of the Palace as well…

Evan asks if they can get their own army to help (since they’ve already got Ya Pi’s implicit permission to meddle as long as whatever they’re doing is in service of getting rid of the dark energy that seems to be causing most of the trouble). Batu tells him that he borrowed Ya Pi’s Leafbook viewer to try and contact Evermore. (Ya Pi ended up having to walk the sky pirate through how to use the device in the process, all the while trying to get his forces in order.) Khunbish didn’t answer any of his messages (and he’ll be answering to Batu about that later). However, he was able to get into contact with their new magical expert. Li Li informed him that the Evermorian army was getting suited up and heading on its way to Goldpaw. But their kingdom is still a good distance from Goldpaw, and it doesn’t seem like the rest of Goldpaw’s forces will be getting here any time soon either.

Thinking quickly, Roland reasons that saving Pugnacius’s Soulmate in his world will be pointless if the former Grand High Roller is killed here first, so the ka-tet should split up. Batu and Tani will stay behind in Goldpaw to help Ya Pi and the rest of his people hold the line and wait for reinforcements. Meanwhile, he, Evan, and Lofty will head to his world and track down the Grand High Roller’s Soulmate. Tani asks why she can’t go with them, and Roland explains that they should have as many people as they can spare helping out in Goldpaw. Evan is needed to cast the spell and Roland has to be there so that the Gateway will open up to the correct world. (And Lofty will follow wherever his king goes.) Anyone else coming along would be extraneous.

(This has nothing to do with the fact that he doesn’t want any of the ka-tet to find out about what’s going on in his world as much as he possibly can, not in the slightest…)

Lofty gets all huffy that the big dramatic reveal he was trying to build up to earlier was squandered by poor timing, but Tani snaps at him that he did this to himself. If this information was that important, he should’ve just said it earlier! He’s still pouting as Tani and Batu head up to Fortune Square and the rest of the ka-tet Travels back to Evermore.

* * *

Evan’s “army” has already departed by the time he, Lofty, and Roland arrive back in Evermore. Roland tells an anxious Evan that he should trust in his people—not only the ex-pats of Goldpaw but also the sky pirates, especially Tani and Batu—to get their jobs done. He can’t be everywhere at once, so he needs to get used to having to put his faith in others. Evan accepts this with a deep breath and a nod as they head out into the wide-open plains just outside of Evermore.

Lofty snarkily asks if this is enough space for Evan to cast Gateway as his voice echoes across the seemingly empty plains (conspicuously absent of any monsters for this cutscene). As Evan pulls out the spellbook page and begins to cast the deceptively-simple rune. Once the finished rune hangs in the air before him, a blue light glows around Roland before zooming off a few feet away. From its landing spot in the grass, lines of blue light begin forming the outline of a massive structure as the elaborate Gateway starts to manifest.

While it does, three different parties are off in the distance, spying on the proceedings. The first is a pack of Tyran’s bandits, gawping at the light show while their leader scoffs. So what if the kid is a powerful wizard? He’ll just have to raise a bigger army and maybe call in a few monsters to aid him. The Lucky Country will be his yet again, just you wait! The next party spying on the proceedings doesn’t get any lines, but the silhouette of their commander clearly reveals that he’s mousefolk. Furthest away, the mysterious Kingsbond thief himself watches from a high cliff overlooking the plains as the Gateway is completed in a final burst of dazzling light.

  
( _Why does Gateway only need a large space and an elaborate cutscene for the first time Oliver casts it anyway? It makes sense that it just becomes a quick warping spell in a gameplay context, but what is the in-universe justification?_ )

Back with the ka-tet, the door within the Gateway begins to open and a burst of bright light spills out, beckoning them forward. Despite the dire circumstances, Evan can’t help but be a little excited at the thought of going to a whole new world. His enthusiasm is infectious, but Roland is left wondering how to make sure that Evan and Lofty see the least amount of the issues going on in his own country as possible while still finding Pugnacius’s Soulmate. Evan and the rest of the ka-tet are already trying to deal with their own problems; they don’t need to worry about the assassination attempt on him as well. So he reminds the king and Kingmaker that they’re on a time-sensitive errand and won’t have the opportunity to play tourist as they walk on through the Gateway...and into another world.


	15. Ch.4.5 - It's a Holiday in Andoria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Roland tries to delay the mortifying ordeal of being known as long as he possibly can.

## Chapter Four: One Nation, Underdog (Part Five)

(Revenant Kingdom _doesn’t provide a lot of information about Roland’s world. The models of the cars in the motorcade during the prologue and Roland’s smartphone indicate that time-wise, it seems to be relatively the equivalent of the present day. Roland mentions movies quite a bit in regards to the fantasy elements of the Other World, so there’s a motion picture industry and no such “fantastical” elements in his world. There’s no in-game confirmation that Oliver and Roland’s worlds are the same (The Conductor states that there are many different worlds that can be somewhat similar in the DLC of_ White Witch _), but that’s the assumption that this reworking is going to roll with for the sake of franchise synergy since the Ni No Kunis of the two games are explicitly separate worlds (that just happen to share a decent amount of names and concepts)._

_Funny enough, the object that reveals the most about Roland’s world is the Presidential Seal that adorns the flags and seat covers of his motorcade, which could very well be the actual flag of his country. The real-life[Seal of the President of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_the_President_of_the_United_States#Design_and_symbolism) has a similar look, so analysis of the symbolism associated with that seal and cross-comparison it to the one from Roland’s world can be used to gain some insight into what his country might be like and how it differs from the real country that it is clearly based upon._

  * _The stars on the inner border of the US seal represent each of the fifty states. The seal of Roland’s country only has three stars surrounding the eagle._ The author has taken this to mean that Roland’s country only has three states, as stated in earlier in this chapter.
  * _The number of stripes on the shield of the US seal represent the thirteen original states that existed back when the US was first formed as an independent country. The shield on Roland’s seal only has seven stripes. It also has three stars on it, no variation of the US seal has had any on the shield._ This became the seven original states that won independence and the three that remained before Roland’s country was properly formed.
  * _The US seal has two instances of writing on it: the more relevant is on the scroll held by the eagle’s beak that says “E Pluribus Unum”, which is Latin for “Out of many, one”. “Union”—the word on Roland’s seal—can be taken to mean the same thing. But the scroll is not held by the eagle at all, instead it is floating at the bottom of the seal._ So perhaps the concept of “unity” is a value held up by this country as important, yet they do not properly put this belief into practice. ( _This one is more of a thematic concept than an objective inference about this fictional country, as the level of the USA’s adherence to the concept on their seal depends on the period in history and the cultural/political factors in play._ )
  * _Another variation between the two seals is that the eagle’s talons are not visible in the seal of Roland’s country unless it is meant to be depicting the eagle carrying the shield itself. The US eagle carries an olive branch in one talon (symbolizing peace) and thirteen arrows in the other (symbolizing war)_.
  * If there had been writing along the outer border of Roland’s seal like the US seal has, it might have contained the name of his country. But no such writing exists on that seal.



_The_ [Timeless Tome _DLC gives the name Bellicose (or Bellicosia)_](https://theskylarkin.tumblr.com/post/614228073105227776/was-doing-some-research-for-the-nnk2-rewrite) _for Roland’s country, although the way that this information is conveyed doesn’t specifically state that this is the name of the nation: it could very well be the name of a state or a city. While the name is a clear reference to Lucien’s country in_ White Witch _, the analogy doesn’t work in the context of_ Revenant Kingdom _because the audience isn’t given enough information about Roland’s country to appreciate the comparison. (Bellicosia makes a strong impression with its singular appearance in Lucien’s backstory, but that minuscule amount of information isn’t even present for Roland’s country in the prologue._

 _So in the reworking, the name Bellicosia will be reused for another location in the DLC and Roland’s country as a whole is now called The Democratic Union of Andoria to give it a more eagle-adjacent name so that the bird’s presence on the seal has some meaning (since most of the recognizable eagle names have been taken by real-world countries and earlier series_ Assassin’s Creed _protagonists)._

_The politics of a real-world country are a sensitive topic, especially to the worldwide consumer base of Triple-A Video Games™ (as it is presumed that the publisher is chasing after the largest possible audience for their expensive JRPG), even if the country in-game is only meant to be a stand-in for said country (although the current political climate in the USA proves that some Americans will get butthurt about any depiction of their nation that isn’t glowing adoration—which wouldn’t be such a problem if this wasn’t an audience that the gaming industry tends to pander to so much). Add to that the issue of the developers of the game belonging to a different culture and there is a lot of potential to ignite controversy over poor writing choices, so the choice of the original game to give the least amount of information about Roland as a president and his country probably stems in part from this concern._

_But politics is a major focal theme of this rewrite and one of the major changes to Roland’s character arc is making his occupation of choice more of a focus in order to make him a better character foil to Evan. Still, there are ways for the writers to avoid dealing with certain sensitive topics (like the real-world racial and religious issues in American politics—topics that the author personally wouldn’t trust the average western game developer to handle with the finesse those issues require to not come across as ignorant and/or preachy) if they are willing to put in the effort to worldbuild around them. Here are some of the ways that Andoria differs from the country that is based upon in order to not have to bring up controversial issues:_

  * _As mentioned before, the Democractic Union of Andoria does not have an Electoral College system since there are only three states. Presidential elections are decided by popular vote._
  * _The amendment of Andoria’s constitution that guarantees freedom of religion has been amended into a complete separation of church and state. This means that while citizens cannot be punished by the state for practicing their religion (with the exception of anything otherwise unlawful, such as assault or murder), churches are not exempt from taxes and religious institutions are forbidden from directly lobbying for politicians. If a politician is linked to a religious institution in any fashion involving money, there are laws that will get them summarily kicked out of office. Therefore all politicians are functionally atheists and religion is an implicitly forbidden topic in government offices._
  * _Back during the era of Oliver’s time (_ White Witch _), massive nationwide protests led to sweeping constitutional changes that outlawed discrimination of marginalized members of society on an individual, state, and federal level. As time passed, these laws held up and no one in office dared to change them out of fear of public response. Bigotry on an individual level still persists on a case by case basis, but displaying any hint of bias against another social group is tantamount to political suicide if you are running for public office._
  * _With the conditions for the Southern Strategy to move the Overton Window to the far right (as the US tragically did after the Civil Rights movement) absent in Andoria in the past, the politicians of Andoria had to instead resort to extreme political polarization over policy rather than bigotry in order to motivate their bases. The country has a two-party system because there are only two legal parties in it: the current Ruling Party (which Roland is part of), and the Opposition Party. (Neither of these parties will be properly named in the game, but a player who is paying attention to the views espoused by the characters will quickly figure out which is supposed to be which.) Other third parties have been straight up outlawed. As a result, there is a massive divide between the two parties over policy: “bipartisan” and “centrist” are words used scornfully to smear your political opponent in the same way that mainstream American politics uses “socialist” as an insult._
  * _The only reason the two sides have not erupted into civil war (aside from the corporate interest of lobbyists) is Andoria’s tendency to fight with other nations. The country as a whole still hasn’t been able to shake off the imperialistic tendencies of its formation and early years. Most of the territory it has conquered has been reclaimed by its rightful owners (even within their own borders, there are tribal reservations of fully independent Native Andorians, and their autonomy is actually respected by the federal government). Even so, Andoria as a nation has a long history of war that has carried into the present day. It was only a decade before Roland’s first term that the four-year mandatory military service for all able-bodied Andorians once they turned eighteen was abolished._
  * _At the time of the game’s story, Andoria is “technically” in a state of peace thanks to the actions of the current president. But as Roland said of Ding Dong Dell in Chapter One, “still waters run deep”, especially with their neighbors to the north, the People’s Republic of West Caeledonia. (In another universe, tensions with the northern country got so bad that they launched a nuke just as President Crane was supposed to be arriving at a summit in a very populated Andorian city…) On the other hand, the country to the south of Andoria has gotten so fed up with the nonsense of their northern neighbors that they’ve built a massive fortified border in order to keep them out._
  * _The general Andorian electorate has made some terrible decisions in the past, but they’d never be stupid enough to elect a movie star or reality television personality with no actual political experience…_



_All of this background information/worldbuilding that doesn’t end up being relevant to the plot will be conveyed in random documents and news clips that the player can access during the sections of the (rewrite) that take place in Roland’s world. The gist of it is: Roland’s country is a hot mess but it’s a heavily idealized hot mess in comparison to the country that it’s actually based on, yet different enough to be interesting in a way that the writers can work with, hopefully without causing any controversy for themselves._ )

* * *

**8:30pm approx., Office of the President, Presidential Palace, Cristobal, Andoria, 11/23/20XX**

It isn’t until President Crane has already passed through the Gateway that he remembers what condition he was in when he was first transported to Evan’s world. (It’s nearly been a week for him since that fateful day, and so much has happened since.) His body doesn’t ache as if he had just suffered a major car accident as he walks into the familiar room through the magical portal, but he still hurries over to the darkened windows that look out onto the Presidential Palace lawn and the government sector of Cristobal—the capital city of Andoria—with only a few lights still on in the distance as most people have already gone home for the day. (This is the best he can do for now as his office doesn’t have a mirror.) The reflection he finds seems like a perfectly healthy version of his real self—back in his usual three-piece suit with no explanation—at his true age.

Crane ( _who will be referred to as such while he is in this older form_ ) sighs in relief that at least this issue seems to have resolved itself, as he is not looking forward to having to explain the details of his sudden disappearance to the Secret Service. Having to do so while still grievously injured would just be more trouble and waste more precious time that should be spent trying to track down Pugnacius’s Soulmate. He turns around to ask Evan if the Gateway spell is supposed to heal anyone who walks through it, but finds him and Lofty staring back in shock, mouths agape at his sudden transformation.

> **Evan** , finding his voice: “R-Roland? What happened to you!? Did I cast the spell incorrectly, or—”
> 
> **President Crane** , with a chuckle: “No, you haven’t done anything wrong. This is how I usually look; whatever brought me to your world aged me down somehow—”
> 
> **Lofty** , bemused: “Crikey! You bein’ an ol’ man certainly explains a lot, mun!”
> 
> **Crane** , slightly irked: “Old man? Excuse you, I’m only forty eight. That’s still considered relatively young for a president in this country!”

Evan, deposed heir to the Ding Dong Dell monarchy, is surprised by this. Wow, somebody has to be _that old_ to rule a country in this world? While the president walks over to his desk, the king looks around at the sparsely decorated office, containing only the large desk and a few nearly empty bookshelves—a far cry from the lavish throne rooms in his world. Lofty voices the observation that this place looks a bit shabby for the office of the ruler of a nation and Crane offhandedly replies that he prefers not to have as many distractions in his workspace as he fishes something out of the desk drawers. (The public-facing rooms of the Palace that see visitors more often are properly decorated, but still lack the opulence of anything from Evan’s world.) The desk (solid mahogany, clean with no obvious embellishments) doesn’t even have any pictures or other personal mementos on top of it, just a few pens (very expensive ones, but just pens all the same).

What’s the next thing that Crane does when he returns to his own world? The most important thing, the thing he’s been waiting for about three whole chapters to do? He grabs a phone charger cable and charges his cell phone. Evan and Lofty look on curiously as the strange device beeps to life once it has regained enough battery. ( _Evan didn’t get a glimpse of the phone in Chapter One, and Roland hasn’t had a reason to pull it out until now._ ) Is that small, boxy gadget something like a Leafbook viewer? Crane explains that it has some similar functions plus much more as he waits for the phone to sync up to the Palace wifi. With a beep, the date and time update automatically and he can see that while almost a week has passed by in Evan’s world, it’s only been a couple of hours since he left this one.

(He’s just going to ignore the frantic beeps that come afterward—all of the emails and text messages that he’s missed—for now.)

Before he has a chance to inform Evan and Lofty, the door to the President’s office bursts open without warning. Four adults in identical suits and ties storm in with their guns drawn. Evan and Lofty freeze in place, but Crane seems unfazed by the number of firearms in the room that are currently pointed at him. Calmly, he asks the lady and gentlemen of the Secret Service to please lower their pistols, because everything is fine (and they’re scaring his guests from another world right now).

( _Andoria has a massive gun culture that none of the other countries in the world really understand, but there are actually reasonable regulations in place (at least in comparison to the real-world country that it is based upon). Owning a gun in Andoria is just as regulated as owning a car. Even so, the prevalence of firearms openly carried in the country is still a subject of mockery in other nations. All the specifics of this bit of worldbuilding will be conveyed to the player in a similar fashion to the tidbits highlighted above, but the author can’t resist taking the sudden moment of gun violence in the first chapter and expanding that out into an extended satire of American gun culture._ )

The Secret Service agents exchange looks of utter confusion at the sight of the President—who should’ve been killed hours ago in a brutal car accident several cities away along with his driver—seemingly alive, uninjured, and incredibly nonchalant about the whole affair. The oldest man and the only woman in the group seem to recover from their shock first, returning to their professional facades. Agent Pauline Prentiss—a rather plain-looking woman with hazel eyes and light brown hair in a neat, practical bun—was among those assigned to the presidential motorcade tonight and has seen the damage done to the presidential limo first hand. In her mind, it is far more plausible for the figure in front of her to be a body double of some sort rather than the President miraculously appearing out of thin air. With a skeptical scowl, she orders Agents Adams and Gunther to block the only (accessible) doorway to the office.

Agent Hammond Black—an older man with a stern face and light blond hair fading into white at the temples—can’t help but wrinkle his nose at the younger agent taking charge when he should be the one giving out the orders. Agent Randall Adams—a lanky and handsome man with reddish-brown hair that’s barely short enough to be considered passable by the dress code—barely suppresses an eyeroll at Mrs. Bossyboots at it _again_. Even so, he still compiles along with Agent Tobias Gunther, who is stouter and shorter but built like a linebacker as they flank the only (visible) exit to the room. Prentiss and Black walk right up to Crane…

...passing through (not by, _through_ ) the visitors from another world to do so without so much as a glance in their direction. Already spooked, Evan lets out an involuntary yelp as the agents seem to phase right through him and Lofty as if they were ghosts. Evan looks to his Kingmaker for an explanation and Lofty figures that maybe since they’re not from here, they might as well be ghosts to the inhabitants of this world as beings who aren’t used to magic are incapable of perceiving it without help from a wizard. To demonstrate this, he hobbles over to Agent Gunther at the door before leaping up and screaming in his face as loud as he can. Though Evan and Crane wince at the shrill noise, there is no reaction whatsoever from any of the agents in the room.

( _This was what happened to Drippy, Esther, and Swaine while in Oliver’s world in_ White Witch.)

> **Evan** : ”But...why can people in our world see and hear Roland?”

Lofty doesn’t have an answer for him because he’s staring intently at the Secret Service agent and his compatriot by the door. There’s something oddly familiar about the two of them…

Out of the corner of his eye, Crane is trying to keep tabs on Evan and Lofty while answering the volley of questions from Agents Black and Prentiss—none of which he has a sufficiently acceptable answer for. How did he survive the crash? Not a clue. Where has he been for the past two hours or so? That’s a good question. How did he get here before the other agents assigned to the motorcade returned? He doesn’t know. Crane is painfully aware of how suspicious his answers sound, but what is he supposed to do? Tell them the truth, that he got spirited away to another world with magic spells and dragons by unknown means and has spent the past few days/hours trying to help a half-grimalkin set up his own nation? That would not help his case at all.

Even after rattling off the long and complicated code phrase that was supposed to prove his identity to Secret Service (an invention of his that he pitched jokingly to his staff at the start of his term that he never thought he’d actually have to use), Black and Prentiss don’t look convinced in the slightest. So Crane changes tactics and tries to prove his identity by repeating the most personal facts about the agents present that he can remember off the top of his head: stuff he’d only know if he’d spent years with them, not something that could be looked up on social media.

Agent Black is the oldest of three kids, but none of his siblings have talked to each other in years. His twentieth wedding anniversary is in three months and two days; his wife wants to spend it overseas but he wants to spend it with their families and it’s been a whole drama for months now. Agent Prentiss has only broken two bones in her life; both were in her right foot and happened right before her high school ice hockey tournament finals, forcing her out of the match and any chance to go pro. She hasn’t gone to a skating rink since that day, even when her kids have had birthday parties. Both agents blanch at him saying this all out loud, but this is all correct information and something pretty inconsequential for an imposter to hinge their cover story on.

Agent Adams would’ve been celebrating his first wedding anniversary in one month and six days had his relationship not ended dramatically right before the wedding rehearsal. (Adams sullenly asks him if he really had to go and remind him about that, as he’d been trying to forget about the whole affair.) Agent Gunther might be part Native Andorian according to his family. However, a lot of Andorians claim Native ancestry without real proof and he doesn’t want to take a DNA test or his folks might get upset, so he doesn’t tell anyone this. (Gunther nods along, this is something that he’s only ever told Adams and the President.)

Black and Prentiss both seem a little less skeptical that this is the real President Crane, but the lack of concrete facts about how he’s materialized out of seemingly nowhere is still suspicious as hell. While Black pulls Prentiss away to whisper something into her ear, Crane tries to discreetly wave Evan and Lofty over towards him so that he’s not seen shouting at empty space by the already wary agents. (Adams and Gunther exchange concerned looks as they watch the President waving over at seemingly nothing.) Evan walks over but Lofty’s still investigating Adams and Gunther when he finally realizes why the two agents guarding the door look so familiar.

> **Lofty** : “Am I going flippin’ mad, or are those two by yur dead ringers for ol’ Chingis an’ Khunbish?”
> 
> **Evan** , with a gasp after looking closer: “Golly, they must be their Soulmates!”

At the mention of Soulmates, Crane is abruptly reminded of their purpose for returning to his world. Realizing that the time difference between worlds means that minutes here could be hours in Evan’s world, As quietly as he can manage, Crane tells Evan and Lofty to go on without him and find Pugnacius’s Soulmate before it’s too late. The city of Cristobal is massive and it could take a while to search it for Pugnacius’s Soulmate. The spell was supposed to take them somewhere close to the individual who shares a soul with the Grand High Roller according to Boddly, so hopefully he’s just somewhere in the building like Khunbish and Chingis’s Soulmates are. With the rest of the ka-tet and Goldpaw’s meager forces holding back an angry mob spurred on by dark energy, they might not have that kind of time.

When Evan and Lofty protest, Crane promises to follow after them as soon as he can. (Though with the way Black and Prentiss are having a fiercely whispered debate, that could take a while.) But every moment that they haven’t found the Grand High Roller’s Soulmate is a longer stretch of time that Tani, Batu, Ya Pi, and the rest of the city guards have to fight to keep the people of Goldpaw from hurting themselves and their former ruler. Evan and Lofty’s intangibility extends to doors as well as people and with a solemn nod from Evan, the two of them scurry right past the agents and into the bowels of the Presidential Palace.

As they leave, the two Secret Service agents seem to have come to a consensus. Prentiss announces that she and Black will go and fetch the Vice President, demanding that the President stay put until Tucker arrives. Crane doesn’t try to protest, mildly amused that Agent Prentiss doesn’t even bat an eye at trying to order the President of Andoria around (at least Black tried to look somewhat apologetic). But this cool efficiency is one of the reasons that he’s kept her on his security detail. Adams seems irked that he and Gunther are still on guard duty until they return.

Once it’s just him and the remaining two agents alone in the office, Crane collapses into his chair with a sigh. The relief is from not only Tucker’s impending arrival (who will be able to confirm his identity without a doubt for the sake of everyone else) but also that Evan and Lofty won’t be around for the inevitable discussion of the failed assassination attempt. They’ve got more important things to worry about and he is more than capable of managing the affairs of his nation on his own, thank you very much.

As Crane waits, he studies the two remaining agents intently. Gunther has darker skin and a thinner beard and he’s fairly certain that Adams has said something about getting airsick easily once, but their resemblances to their Soulmates in the other world are so uncanny that he can’t believe how long it took him to realize it. With different clothing and hair dye (as well as a wig for the bald Gunther) they’d be splitting images of Chingis and Khunbish. Crane tries to recall if there’s anyone in the Presidential Palace who reminds him of Pugnacius so strongly, but his mind is drawing a blank. Hundreds of people work in the building: politicians, staffers, security, janitors, and more. After three years and many people leaving and being replaced (especially now that the reelection campaign has kicked into full gear), there’s no way he knows every single person who works here anymore.

Adams shifts uncomfortably under this intense scrutiny. Gunther looks over in concern but doesn’t say anything out of a sense of professionalism, so Crane takes it upon himself to ask the agent what’s wrong in his place.

> **Adams** : “Forgive my language but holy shit, you should be dead, sir! Agent Prentiss and I just got back with the rest of the motorcade; we saw the wrecked limo, no one could’ve survived that! There’s no way that your driver will be able to have an open-casket funeral, but you don’t have a scratch on you! How did you even survive and get here before us?”
> 
> **Crane** , with a long-suffering sigh: “Look, I wish I had a reasonable explanation for you, I really do. But—”
> 
> **???** , muffled shouting through the closed door: “Where the hell is he!?”

The door slams open as a portly gentleman with the vaguest hint of a Southern accent bursts through the door. Vice President Jacob “Coby” Tucker is Crane’s opposite in many ways: he’s still got a full head of dark hair with nary a strand of grey (as VP he’s under a little less stress but his secret is that he dyes it while Crane doesn’t care and wears his greys with pride), immaculately groomed facial hair, and typically more _joie de vivre_ in contrast to Crane’s sternness. Not in this instance as he stomps over to Crane, shouting his head off about how the president just casually shows up like this after vanishing for two hours and being presumed dead before he pulls his friend into a bone-crushing hug.

Crane doesn’t seem surprised by this reaction at all as he awkwardly hugs back with an exasperated but fond smile; another major way the two of them differ is that Tucker has never been afraid to wear his emotions on his sleeve. Their stark contrasts and how well they work together despite them was one of their strengths dating back to when they were still partners in the same law firm together.

> **VP Tucker** : “Thank god you’re alive, Roland. For a moment there, I thought I would have to do some actual work! But seriously, how the hell did you survive?”
> 
> **Crane** , with a chuckle: “Trust me, Coby, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Quickly switching topics to avoid having to try and explain magic spells and Soulmates to his VP, Crane asks about what’s happened since he’s been gone. Tucker tells him that the admin has been proceeding with standard protocol on the assumption that Crane had died, though there is a team of agents still out in the field trying to find his missing body. They’ve only told the press that the President had missed the customary pre-I22 Summit gala dinner at the Steiner Hotel ballroom due to a “family emergency” for now. Secretary Leroy attended the event in his place along with Secretary Maddox. (Crane winces at this news. He’s not worried about what the Secretary of State might’ve said to the other attendees at the dinner. But he can already guess what her reaction will be once she knows that he’s still alive and she'd been forced to attend one of these social events that she despises under false pretenses.)

Speaking of family, Tucker anticipates his next question and preemptively assures him that William and the First Lady have been moved to the secret bunker underneath the Presidential Palace as soon as Secret Service reported the suspicious nature of the car crash. The VP asks if he should tell them and the press that everything’s alright now, but Crane tells him to wait until they’ve conducted a thorough investigation of the attempted assassination. He gets Gunther to fetch Tucker’s laptop from his office so that they can go over the CCTV footage Secret Service pulled from the tunnel as the scene shifts back to Evan and Lofty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers/Warnings: the presence of guns in a setting resembling Washington DC for the purpose of satire towards the lack of reasonable US gun control legislation.
> 
> Notes: This chapter and the original version on Tumblr were originally written before 1/6/2021. ([The original Tumblr version was posted on 2/26/2020.](https://theskylarkin.tumblr.com/post/611034025658859520/the-gap-in-the-doorway-a-ni-no-kuni-2-rewrite)) None of the events depicted are based on any real-life events.


	16. Ch.4.6 - Unanticipated Survivor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the narrative goes through a jarring shift in genre, Evan finds out what kind of country Roland is running, and the (K)nightmares from White Witch return with a vengeance (and a makeover).

## Chapter Four: One Nation, Underdog (Part Six)

[ **Gameplay Change** : The segments of the reworking that take place in Roland’s world will take place solely on the grounds of the Presidential Palace. Like Motorville from _White Witch_ , the camera is fixed and there won’t be any chests or roaming enemies to fight. There are a bunch of NPCs walking around on this visit, but they can only be spoken to directly when the player character is in control of Roland. Otherwise it is implied that Evan is just listening in on their conversations with another person when the “Talk” prompt is used. Unlike _White Witch_ , the player can’t just go to Roland’s world whenever they want—it’s only available during specific story segments for the sake of the plot.]

The hallways of the Presidential Palace are a labyrinth of stark white walls with some old portraits of old human males with white hair in gilded frames, polished wooden doors, and dark blue carpeted floors. Despite being expensively well-maintained, it all seems very plain in comparison to the gold, glittery Hall of the Grand High Roller as well as very cramped unlike the wide hallways and massive rooms of Ding Dong Dell Castle. This is Evan’s first impression anyway as he and Lofty race through the building looking for someone who reminds them of Pugnacius. Their intangibility extends to walls but not the floor; Lofty cautions Evan not to think about that too much or he might find himself sinking down into the depths of the world!

As they make their way through the offices, archives, hallways, meeting rooms, secret hallways hidden in the walls, janitorial closets, and everything else, the visitors from another world take in the sights. The Presidential Palace is in a state of uproar with the President having been seemingly killed hours before. Humans in clothing similar to what Roland was wearing at the trial work frantically, talking into the small boxy devices and tapping on larger machines with a flurry of clicking noises. They speak in hushed voices about “economic summits”, “inaugural plans”, “press releases”, and a whole host of other terms that Evan and Lofty don’t understand. Although they do catch enough to figure out that someone seems to be making funeral plans for President Crane. But why? Has Roland really been gone long enough from this world that everyone has assumed that he must have died?

Then some of the workers begin to whisper to the others that they heard that the President has suddenly turned up in his office like magic without a scratch on him. The progress on the emergency preparations for Tucker’s inauguration and the various official statements to be given to the press grinds to a halt as these rumors circulate through the grapevine. The media has caught wind that something is going on at the Palace and reporters are starting to congregate on the lawn outside in anticipation. But this is all just background noise to Evan and Lofty ( _along with any bits of worldbuilding information that the player might stumble across during this segment_ ), who are laser-focused on their search.

Once they head down the stairs to the basement floor, the decor shifts to something more modern and utilitarian as Evan and Lofty navigate the part of the Presidential Palace that most visitors are denied access to. Amidst all the chaos, they find some plumes of dark smoke pouring into the hallways, making all of the oblivious people who walk right into it twist their faces in disgust as their moods dramatically sour for seemingly no reason. Hoping that they can put a stop to the dark influence before the Palace staff are as affected as the people of Goldpaw, Evan and Lofty decide that they ought to track down the source of the malevolent energy. Who else could it possibly be besides Pugnacius’s Soulmate?

At the end of a winding hallway, they stumble into an office where they find a man with the dull eyes nearly obscured from view by a cloud of purple haze—similar to how Pugnacius looked before Doloran ripped the Kingsbond out of his body. However, the smoke surrounding this man is significantly denser, to the point that the visitors from another world are just barely able to make out his face.

The Grand High Roller’s Soulmate is a chubby middle aged man with a scrunched-up face, very canine-like jowls, a thin curly mustache, bushy eyebrows thicker than what remains of the dark hair on his head, and pronounced wrinkles. Unlike the rest of the occupants of the Presidential Palace that Evan and Lofty have run across thus far, he’s in a crisp and shiny black suit that looks more appropriate for evening wear than work. (Although the elegant impression that a tuxedo is supposed to give off is marred by his undone cufflinks and the sloppy bowtie—hanging untied and limp around his neck like a leash.) The faint aroma of gin hovers around him with the dark smoke emanating from his body. There’s a rabid glaze in his dark eyes as he shouts at a mousy looking woman with large glasses and frizzy brown hair, who is backed into a corner and looks utterly terrified.

What is he so angry about that he feels the need to scream and rage like a toddler throwing a tantrum? The I22 summit, _the_ most important global financial conference, is tomorrow and his _useless personal assistant_ has lost a very important dossier! How could she lose something so crucial the night before one of the most important events for him and the country’s economy? Is she _trying_ to embarrass him in front of all the world leaders who will be present? Did she think she could get away with her gross negligence just because her husband just died? He doesn’t care about that; the global economy isn’t going to just grind to a halt because of one man’s death! He wasn’t even the most important person to perish in that car crash! If Flagg were still around, _he_ would never have made such a rookie mistake!

The woman looks like she’s on the verge of tears—especially at the mention of her recently-deceased husband—but she’s doing an amazing job of not breaking down, even as her boss is hurling abuse at her. Keeping her voice as level as she can, she stammers out that Flagg forgot to leave his passwords with someone in the department when he quit out of the blue yesterday, so she can’t get access to his computer files until someone at IT gets the proper authorization to get into his computer. Besides, she’s looked over the presentation notes that he drew up, and there are some startling discrepancies in the fiscal analytics—

Pugnacius’s Soulmate snarls that she’s just a PA; how dare she question his authority! Very well, if she’s so _concerned_ over the accuracy of the analysis, then she can spend the rest of tonight writing up a new report for the summit tomorrow!

Evan and Lofty aren’t really sure what’s going on, but whatever it is sure doesn’t sound like something to scream about at someone else to the point that they’re cowering and shaking like a leaf! As the angry man stomps forward, they jump in front of him to block his path.

> **Evan** , with righteous fury: “Leave her alone this instant!”
> 
> **Lofty** : “Tha’s right, back off ya great big bully!”

But the Brokenhearted man walks right through them without a glance, at which point they both remember that nobody here in this world except Roland can hear or see them. With one last pair of dirty looks at the rude man, Evan and Lofty backtrack to Roland’s office as quickly as they can.

* * *

**8:35pm approx., Office of the President, Presidential Palace, Cristobal, Andoria, 11/23/20XX**

Crane and Tucker are sitting in front of the Vice President’s open laptop, with Crane lost in thought after having just finished watching the security footage recorded in the tunnel during the crash. The CCTV cameras had a good view of the limousine getting crushed against the tunnel walls like a soda can in a cement mixer. However, the preceding sniper attack that had taken out the driver wasn’t captured in any of the footage. He asks Tucker if this is really all of the security footage recorded at the time and the VP assures him that this is indeed everything that the cameras were able to capture.

Interestingly enough, the footage does show a brief blinding flash of blue light in the wreckage of the limo before any of the Secret Service Agents could exit their vehicles. Crane can’t say for sure, but it reminds him of the light that surrounds Evan when he’s casting a spell more than anything from this world that he can think of. But his world doesn’t have any magic… He looks over to see if Tucker will comment on the strange light, but he doesn’t seem to have noticed. The relevant security footage ends with Agent Adams yelling and gesturing wildly towards the wrecked car, presumably panicking because the president’s body is nowhere to be found.

> **Tucker** , astonished: “Well Roland, if re-election doesn’t pan out you could always become one of those famous TV magicians because I sure as hell can’t tell how you managed to survive that mess _and_ disappear completely!”
> 
> **Crane** , dismissively: “Never mind that, just— Look, it’s a really long story and I know you’re not going to believe me at first. But I swear, I’ll explain all of it once the summit is over in two days and whoever was responsible for this attack has been caught.”

Tucker shoots him an incredulous glare, but the president is too deep in thought to notice.

> **Crane** , cont.: “If this was a spur-of-the-moment act of terror carried out by some rag-tag extremists that slipped past the SIA[[1](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908/chapters/70581147#note1)], they would have left nothing to chance and just taken out the entire motorcade—or possibly the whole tunnel, that would’ve made much more of a statement especially with the summit tomorrow. But whoever set this up knew exactly which of the three planned routes the motorcade would be taking to the Steiner _and_ exactly where in the tunnel to place a sniper so that they wouldn’t be caught on camera. This was such a well-planned and precise attack that we’re most likely dealing with a professional here, possibly someone operating with some kind of insider information—”
> 
> **Tucker** , interrupting: “Wait, wait, wait...sorry, what’s this about a sniper!? The report never mentioned anything like that, just the details of the crash!”
> 
> **Crane** , doing a double take: “Huh? Hasn’t the security team already conducted a preliminary investigation by now? At least two shots were fired before the limo crashed; an autopsy of the driver should’ve revealed two bullet wounds.”
> 
> **Tucker** , hesitantly: “Well, I haven’t gotten the official report as of yet, but there was nothing about any possible ballistic damage in the preliminary reports. Are you sure that wasn’t just the tires blowing out?”
> 
> **Crane** , with conviction: “What? No! I watched—dammit, what was his name…?”

The president pauses as he tries to recall the identity of the unfortunate driver. He was a relatively new member of the staff, Agent Black or someone else mentioned that the limo service he owned went under and he got the job mostly because his wife had already worked in the Palace for two years and recommended him…

> **Crane** , cont.: “...Burkehard, that’s what it was. I watched him take two bullets to the skull with my own eyes just before the vehicle spun out of control!”

Tucker doesn’t look convinced so Crane changes the subject for now, as he doesn’t need his VP questioning his sanity any further at the moment. Speaking of the unfortunate Mr. Burkehard, has anyone informed his wife about his death yet? Tucker replies that he was just about to get someone to break the news to her personally—even though she must have already guessed what had happened after hearing news of the crash—when Crane showed up out of nowhere since she had just arrived with Secretary Maddox after getting back from the gala dinner.

Crane can’t help but let out a small, exasperated sigh when he realizes that he’s probably not going to be able to get out of having to explain his sudden disappearance to his Secretary of the Treasury, not with the summit tomorrow and a potential mole in the Palace. He’s not looking forward to the conversation; Conor Maddox has been incredibly stressed during the entire month leading up to this pivotal event for his office and Andoria's position in the global economy, and having someone important from his department leave their post at the eleventh hour without warning (or so he’d been told) was probably not helping the man’s sanity.

> **Tucker** , abruptly: Ah, while we’re on the subject of Maddox, there’s something you need to see—

Crane stops him mid-sentence once he notices that Evan and Lofty have returned, panting slightly from having run all the way back, with outraged expressions. Tucker looks over his shoulder at what Crane appears to be staring at intently and sees nothing at all. He shoots him another concerned look.

> **Evan** , breathlessly: “Roland, we found Pugancius’s Soulmate!”
> 
> **Lofty** : “Yeah, he’s in an office one floor down covered in that purple stuff an’ screaming his head off about a summit at some poor woman who’s just lost ‘er husband, the bleedin’ mongrel!”

The President lets out a frustrated sigh. So, this must have been what Boddly meant about the issues plaguing the two worlds being connected. The Secretary of the Treasury does have a rather dog-like face now that he thinks about it…

> **Crane** , standing up: “Alright, Tucker, I’ll just go down and see Maddox and Mrs. Burkehard myself to inform them both about the crash and the potential security risk that could affect everyone in the Palace right now. Two birds with one stone and all that.”
> 
> **Tucker** , fumbling to shove his laptop back into his case: “What!? No, that’s— You can’t just— Not without me, you’re not!”

The Vice President shouts at Agents Adams and Gunther to follow, but Crane is already out the door chasing after Evan and Lofty. Black and Prentiss are stationed just outside the door so instead of trying to convince them to let him go, Crane just waves them over to follow him. They’re about to protest, but Tucker yells at them to follow the President before he does something stupid. Black can’t help but let out a gasp at the VP’s crass choice of words but the two of them take off with Adams, Gunther, and Tucker not far behind.

The player gains control of Crane as Evan and Lofty lead him towards the office where Pugnacius’s Soulmate was last seen. On the way there, Evan and Lofty ask what this I22 summit is for and what it has to do with Roland. Absentmindedly, Crane tells them that he’ll explain it later once they’ve dealt with the broken heart of the Grand High Roller’s Soulmate. Lofty then asks how they’re going to deal with the being of dark energy that will prevent them from just restoring the missing Piece of Heart (according to that book Roland had found). Evan comments that he’s still got his arms band with him, although he’s not sure that it’ll be much help if his weapons will be just as intangible as the rest of him in this world. Crane can feel his own arms band snuggly clamped on his upper right arm through his suit, but hopes that it doesn’t come down to him having to subdue this “creature of darkness” and reveal the existence of magic to Tucker and his entourage. (That would just open up a whole other can of worms that he doesn’t have time to try and explain.)

The dark fog has intensified to the point that it has permeated the whole basement floor by the time Crane and his entourage descend the stairs. As Tucker and the Secret Service agents follow in the ka-tet’s wake without a single comment on the influx of purple smoke that has overtaken the basement floor, Crane internally surmises that people from his world might not be able to see the magic from Evan’s world. But the implications of this can be mused upon later, once Goldpaw and possibly his own government are out of danger.

If he seemed unreasonably angry over something so trivial before, Secretary Conor Maddox is absolutely barking mad when he notices that President Crane himself has appeared at the door to his office. Eyes clouded with dark energy, Maddox pulls out his gun—which has Mrs. Burkehard diving for cover behind a desk with a scream as the Secret Service agents draw their own firearms—aiming right at the President. Tucker ducks behind Black and Prentiss (with a similarly shrill scream), Evan also briefly ducks on instinct before remembering that any bullets would probably phase right through him, and Lofty loudly and incredulously asks why everyone seems to have guns in this world!

Crane also instincily tries to summon his firearm from his arms band, but thinks better of it. One more gun isn’t going to help in this situation, not against whatever magic has taken hold of Maddox. Plus, someone getting shot here would just mean more paperwork for him as well as possibly having to break his promise to Evan and stay in his world to deal with the fallout. So he takes a deep breath and tries de-escalation instead.

> **Crane** , calmly as he can manage: “Maddox, what in the world is going on here?”

Tucker looks on in hysteric bafflement at Crane for trying to talk down the near-rabid man with a gun.

> **Tucker** , in a furious whisper: “What are you doing Crane? Step aside and let Secret Service deal with this!
> 
> **Maddox** , beside himself in near incoherent fury: “Well, speak of the devil himself and he shall appear! I really thought someone had finally gone and given you what you deserved, you silver-tongued snake, but here you are—and not a hair on your head out of place! Heh, you probably faked that accident just so you could get out of having to go to that stupid dinner, leaving me to have to blindly field questions about your whereabouts and the goddamn TRADE WAR you’re trying to—”
> 
> **Crane** , annoyed despite the situation: “My remarks about the trade agreement at the press junket were taken out of context, you know Belafontaine’s people have been trying to twist this into a scandal for weeks now just in time for the I22—”
> 
> **Maddox** , eyes glowing red: “SHUT UP! Other people actually have to face the consequences of their words and actions, but you! You always weasel your way out, safe up there on your moral high horse, never being held accountable for your decisions… **WELL MAYBE IT’S TIME YOU GOT—** ”

Maddox starts convulsing violently as the purple smoke intensifies around him. Crane, Evan, and Lofty dart forward as his eyes roll back and his body hits the floor with a thud. The dark smoke fills the entire room until the screen goes black, transitioning into another cutscene.

* * *

**11:22pm approx., Fortune Square, Goldpaw, Day 5**

Fortune Square is also saturated in dark fog so thick that barely anyone can see where they’re going anymore. It doesn’t help that the bright lanterns of Goldpaw have also been doused so that the only source of light in the starless night is the few torches brought by the angry mob hellbent on getting into the Hall of the Grand High Roller. Tani knocks down one of these torch-wielders with the butt of her spear, making sure their torch goes out after clattering to the ground so that no one steps on any of the dying but still hot embers. She’s trying not to hurt anyone too much, but it’s clear that her attackers are not in their right minds as they shamble forward like angry zombies with weapons. They’re certainly not extending that same courtesy towards her and the others in the square trying to fend them off.

Tani, Batu, and Ya Pi’s forces have been at this for hours now, and a reprieve doesn’t seem to be coming any time soon. Tani’s about ready to flop over in exhaustion—where are the Evermorian and Goldpaw reinforcements that were supposed to be arriving to help? Then she hears a distressed yelp somewhere out there in the fog and catches a second wind (more like sixth at this point) before rushing off in the direction of the noise.

Fellow spear-wielder Yung Mein falls to the ground, injured and surrounded by some of the tainted citizens, until Tani leaps in and drives away her attackers. Tani pulls the trainee guard to her feet and heals her injuries with Healing Touch, internally grateful that Evan helped her learn that spell earlier—it has probably saved her life and the lives of others countless times tonight! (Long Mein, who was rushing to his sister’s side when he heard her cry out, sees this and looks away in realization that he had misjudged these outsiders earlier.) Even after her (relatively minor) injuries have been healed, Yung Mein still looks like she’s on the verge of collapse and can’t help but let out a loud sniffle as she asks how much longer they have to keep fighting. Since she doesn’t have a real answer for the dogfolk girl, Tani can only encourage her not to give up.

Meanwhile, Batu is fighting back to back with Ya Pi, batting the darkness-addled dogfolk away with his hammer while the captain tries to knock the attackers out with the flat side of his sword. In between swings, Batu asks him about the supposed reinforcements that Goldpaw and Evermore were supposed to provide, as neither army has arrived. Ya Pi shoves a larger member of the mob away with a growl and replies that according to his sentries, both forces arrived at the entrance to the city but have been struggling to fight their way up to the square while trying not to hurt the zombie-like hordes of civilians that have gone absolutely rabid due to the dark fog’s influence. Some of their reinforcements and even his own soldiers have succumbed to the dark energy and had to be incapacitated before they started to seriously injure others.

Ya Pi once again asks Batu what King Evan is doing to put an end to this situation and how much longer he thinks it will take. Their numbers are dwindling and he’s not sure how much longer they can block the mob from entering the Palace… Batu barks that Evan will come through with a solution, just you wait! But the hostile crowd seems to grow larger by the second, and the dark smog in the air is making it harder and harder to think straight…

Without warning, the Palace doors behind them are thrown open with a loud bang and more dark energy pours out…

* * *

**The Nightmare Dimension (Date and Time Not Applicable)**

When the purple smoke dissipates, Evan, Lofty, and Roland (back in his younger form for this fight) find themselves on a crumbling platform floating over a dark abyss. The remaining thick cloud of smog in front of them coalesces into a dark figure clad in intimidating armor. Its eyes flash red as the tip of the [half moon spear](https://www.wushuguan.com/6023-large_default/half-moon-spear.jpg) it carries bursts into flame. Evan and Roland summon their weapons as they prepare to fight the Nightmare born from Maddox’s Broken heart. Or should I say Knightmare?

[ **Gameplay Change** : To keep up the “kings and kingdoms” theme of this game, the Knightmares will be relatively human-sized constructs of darkness wearing wicked-looking armor instead of creepy guys in cloaks and masks like the ones from White Witch. ( _Their inclusion makes it so that Mausinger and Doloran aren’t the only human-sized bosses with proportionate hitboxes fought throughout the game._ ) They’ll still be constantly inflicting status ailments during the fight, but they (mostly) retain their weakness to light.

  
( _Image taken from[Open3DModel](https://open3dmodel.com/3d-models/3d-model-ancient-chinese-warlord_112085.html)_)

  
( _Image taken from[Open3DModel](https://open3dmodel.com/3d-models/ancient-chinese-warlord_33511.html)_)

The model in the game will look somewhat like a hybrid of these two designs, without a cape to make it easier on the game engine. It would take the helmet and the golden “wing” accents of the first set of armor, plus a mask to cover its non-existent face and make it look much more intimidating. This mask would have the “lion-face” design of the second set, with that motif and the darker color palette also used in the hybrid design as well. The final armor would also have more red and orange accents, in order to signal that it is also weak to water like most other bosses associated with Goldpaw (if the fire-tipped spear that the Knightmare wields didn’t tip the player off).

For maximum results, the player is going to want to set the Tactic Tweaker to guard against fire and increase damage output against Brutal types (which is true for all Knightmares). This Knightmare represents an increase in the difficulty of the game going forward because it has a small hitbox (relative to large bosses such as the Kingmakers) just like the Black Knight’s first form and a polearm with good reach. So spamming the attack button won’t be a viable option as the boss can hit a careless player long before they can land a hit on it if they’re not paying attention.

The spear also has a percentage chance of inflicting the Burn status ailment depending on the move: a normal jab has a twenty percent chance, a sweep has a forty percent chance, and a charged spin attack with a long wind-up animation has an one hundred percent chance of Burning any character unfortunate enough to get caught up in it. So, if the player doesn’t want to _burn_ through all of their healing items, they’re going to have to learn to watch the boss’s movement patterns and take advantage of the openings after charged attacks.]

[ **Gameplay Change** : The reworking is adding in a few more status ailments to the game, starting with Burn. When Burned, the character takes cumulative fire damage as their clothes catch ablaze. It lasts for twenty seconds and can take a good chunk of the health bar of a low level character, but can be put out by rolling into a puddle of water (which doesn’t inflict the Wet status like usual if a character rolls through while affected by Burn). It can be cured by a Burn-be-Gone or an All-be-Gone like the usual status ailments.]

* * *

After a gruelling battle, Evan and Roland manage to defeat the Void of Restraint. The Knightmare explodes into a shower of particle effects, which fade into nothingness along with the space around them. In the blink of an eye, Evan, Lofty and Crane are back in the basement office and the world around them seems to have returned to normal, with only a few faint wisps of smoke hovering around Maddox’s unconscious body. (Crane quickly plucks the gun next to him off the floor before the still Brokenhearted man wakes up.) Similarly to the fight with Longfang, none of the other occupants of the room seem to have been affected by whatever force transported Evan, Roland, and Lofty to that pocket dimension—as if time had just stopped while they were gone.

The Secretary regains consciousness and tries to sit up with a faint groan. However, all four Secret Service agents rush in to restrain him, guns thankfully re-holstered now that the threat has seemingly passed. Maddox, who still has the vacant glaze of Brokenheartedness in his eyes, doesn’t put up any resistance—he barely seems aware of his surroundings at all as they lead him out of the room. As Tucker watches him go in puzzlement, thrown for a loop at the (soon-to-be-former) Secretary’s dramatic change in mood after kneeling over for no apparent reason, Crane walks over to the shaken PA peeking out from under her desk and helps the woman to her feet. Despite Maddox’s removal from the scene, she still has the expression of a person valiantly trying to fight the urge to burst into tears.

> **Crane** : “Are you okay—”

There’s the briefest pause as he tries to recall the PA’s name. She’s been ferrying over piles of paperwork from Maddox to his office for the past month or so in preparation for the summit, it shouldn’t be this hard to remember! He just watched her husband die a couple of hours/days ago, he can’t just fall back on “Mrs. Burkehard”...

> **Crane** : “—Temperance?”

Temperance Burkehard can only nod in reply. That’s just about all she can do to keep her emotions in check as she lets out a soft sniffle with every breath while the president apologizes for what happened to her husband, Quentin. Meanwhile, Evan notices a photograph on the nearest desk of her and a short man with red hair and bottle green eyes. He lets out a sharp gasp as he recognizes the human as the Soulmate of Jerome, the grimalkin guard that he tried to save during the coup in Ding Dong Dell back in Chapter One. How many other people that he knows from his world could have Soulmates in this one?

> **Lofty** , still focused on Temperance: “Cor, so er’ husband jus’ died and she’s still keeping ‘erself together, even with a big jerk like that howlin’ at her? That’s some powerful Restraint; most people woulda cried or taken a swing at him instead, even if ‘e’s her boss! ...wait a tick, wasn’t Restraint one o’ those Pieces o’ Heart fer the Locket mentioned in th’ spellbook pages?”

As if to answer his question, the Locket around Evan’s neck starts to glow green. The light gets Crane’s attention as Evan and Lofty reason that perhaps Restraint could be the Piece of Heart that Maddox is missing. For obvious reasons, Evan can’t ask Temperance if he can cast Take Heart on her himself. However, he doesn’t want to just snag a piece of the woman’s heart without asking—that’s not what a well-mannered young man would do, after all—to Lofty’s frustration. So Crane has to act as a proxy for him and apologize in advance to the PA for the non sequitur before asking if she can share some of her Restraint. She’s understandably confused at this but hesitantly agrees, too emotionally exhausted to question the odd request from the President.

With consent given ( _at least as much as it was in the first game when Oliver asked for pieces of people’s hearts anyway_ ), Evan holds out the Locket per instructions on the spellbook page and casts Take Heart. The Piece of Heart glows within Temperance’s chest before the light zooms out of her body and into the open Locket in Evan’s hand. As the extraneous Restraint leaves her body, the floodgates open and Temperance collapses with a loud wail in President Crane’s arms. He does the best he can to console her as she is no longer able to hold back her overwhelming grief, shaking slightly as the emotion spills over her professional facade like the waterfall of tears falling from her eyes.

(Still standing at the door, Tucker politely averts his eyes and awkwardly shuffles away.)

While Temperance is sobbing on his shoulder, Crane waves Evan and Lofty away to track down Maddox and see if the excess Restraint will be enough to restore him to normalcy. (He doesn’t want to think about what they’ll do if it turns out that he needs a different piece…) There are a number of holding rooms on this floor and the Secret Service agents couldn’t have gotten very far. They quickly scurry away once they get the message, looking just as uncomfortable as Tucker had at the PA’s loud and sudden breakdown.

Once Temperance has calmed down, she realizes that she does feel a lot better now that she’s gotten some of the anguish that she’s been trying to suppress while her country was in a potential state of emergency off her chest. Embarrassed, she tries to apologize for her unprofessional behavior but Crane’s not having it. He tells the PA that she can go straight home once she’s reported to the Secret Service for a few questions regarding her whereabouts earlier tonight; he’ll have someone else in her department take care of the paperwork during bereavement leave and the summit.

As she leaves, Tucker walks back in and lightly quips that he’d be worried about letting a potential suspect go, but Mrs. Burkehard is the last person in Cristobal who would have wanted to cause that limo crash! Unamused by the attempt at dark humor, Crane asks his VP what he had been trying to tell him earlier about Maddox. Tucker’s face shifts into a more serious expression as he starts to explain, but the player will have to wait for the exposition as the scene shifts back to Evan and Lofty’s perspective again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 SIA stands for Spycraft Intelligence Agency, Andoria’s domestic and foreign intelligence-gathering agency. It has no relation to Cia, the famous Andorian pop singer. [ [return to text](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26741908/chapters/70581147#return1) ]
> 
> Triggers/Warnings: Implied Verbal Abuse, Implied Gaslighting, the presence of guns in a setting resembling Washington DC for the purpose of satire towards the lack of reasonable US gun control legislation.
> 
> Notes: This chapter and the original version on Tumblr were originally written before 1/6/2021. None of the events depicted are based on any real-life events.


End file.
